Herron VTPH-2A vs ModWright PH 9.0

Forgot to say, the Modwright phono 9.0 replaced an Aesthetix Rhea that I've been using for the past 10 years.  The Rhea was great and delivered the "breath of life" that makes you feel you are listening to real human beings making music.  It had a midrange to die for, and a bit like the Herron, felt a bit bigger than life.  The Modwright is less fullsome in the midrange (not at all lean), but I think true-er to the actual recording.  HTH.

I have the Herron. Anyone wants to bring a Modwright, or anything else for that matter, over to compare is welcome any time. Just let me know. 

It is by the way not bigger than life, but it is definitely holographic. 

Thank you @dfhaleycko for your helpful answer. It seems that one cannot go wrong with either preamp and it should be down to personal preferences (the reason for my question) and features. In that department ModWright has the edge I think with its mono switch and front panel settings; although for the moment I only have 1 arm/turntable so when it's set..it's set! Best sound reproduction is my priority, not features.

I was also intrigued by comments above about Herron sounding better through a SUT. I actually do have a very nice Rothwell MCL SUT (1:20) with Lundahl transformers which contributed very much in a better sound in my system, so I guess I think highly of transformers (ModWright again, although in another thread was mentioned that the 9.0 does not use one of Lundahl's best models).

And price-wise, a second-hand Herron is about $ 2800 shipped to Europe (where I live) vs 3400 for a brand new ModWright 9.0 and 3900 for a demo 9.0X upgraded unit. And cost is of course a factor...

To give a bit of a context, currently the SUT is fed by an Ortofon MC Windfeld cartridge mounted on a carbon fibre Pro-ject 9CC Evo tonearm on a Pro-ject Xtension 9 Evolution turntable (current phono stage: Project Phono Box RS).

My setup sounds quite good, it's well balanced and I don't have any real complaints. But, of course, I wonder what may I be missing compared to a higher end phono pre ! My amp and speakers are also quite good, revealing (detailed & transparent), tonally correct and natural-sounding, without being warm or lean/harsh (30 Watt Class A Tube integrated Audiomat Aria amplifier driving 2.5-way JMR Cantabile Suprême transmission line floorstander speakers).

Your system seems to be well thought-out.  I do think you'd find improvement with either of these phono stages.  My Modwright does not have the upgraded transformer and slightly revised circuitry of the 9.0x.  I have heard from others that the new sut represents a pretty significant upgrade. 

FWIW, I actually run two tables through my Modwright, one (monaural) connected to the MM inputs and another connected to the MC inputs.  I can switch between them from the front panel without having to fiddle with patch cords.  I run mostly unbalanced, although for headphone listening, I can connect via balanced XLR to my headphone amp.  It's pretty versatile.  

My Aesthetix Rhea supported three decks, and a remote control for setting loading on the fly.  It was quiet and lovely with good NOS tubes, but tended to get noisier over time.  It had 10 tubes, so re-tubing it was an expensive proposition. 

The Modwright is dead quiet, and it's gain tubes provide a wide un-hyped frequency range.  It seems pretty darned neutral to me, which makes it hard to talk about what it is doing or not doing to help the music.

@vitamin_z given your location and already have excellent SUT, you should possibly also consider Croft RIAA-RS

i have the single chassis RS and a Herron. The former rewards tube rolling, the later no so much. Both are excellent values, well supported by the one person shop builders. the Croft is point to point, the Herron on a well thought out PCB. 

have fun, enjoy the music