About two years ago I got a very good deal on a used Soulution 720 which includes the phono stage, and is a world-class pre-amp. I can honestly say that this was one best system upgrades I have ever done, and that is factoring in the cost. When I consider the value I got for selling my separate preamp and phonostage on Audiogon, this was a 4-figure upgrade and not an unreasonable expense. The improvement on all of my sources was tremendous, but the phono upgrade ended up far better than I had expected. To the OP's question, I think that the right high end preamp can make a VERY large difference in system performance. However, it depends entirely on system matching and what specific role the preamp is expected to play. That is my experience at least...
