phono preamp advice


recently purchased a used vpi 19-jr on audiogon.
added a lyra darion cartridge also.HAs upgraded platter
included. currently using musical fidelity trio of xpls-v3,
x-10-v3 tube buffer and pwer supply as my phono section.
have been told the next path to upgrade is this combo to a one piece unit such as a bat vk-p5 for example.
my question is, do i need to upgrade and if so due to space constraints (the bat is too big for my rack along with waf factor) what would be an adequate upgrade that would make a reasonable amount of difference.Budget would be around 2000 give or take. also recomended were the ear
834-p and a jolida jd 9a that can be modified. any other suggestions would be appreciated tks.
panu21

Showing 1 response by jependleton

Sounds like you have pretty well matched set up as is. I've heard both your MuFi setup and the E.A.R. 834P with a cartridge in the performance category with the Lyra Dorian and didn't hear anything earthshakingly different as far as quality of sound. The E.A.R. is perhaps a bit more focused, but does not offer the tube sound.

If you plan on keeping the Dorian for the forseeable future, then my opinion would be to sit tight with the phono stage that you have.