@lalitk
That’s awesome that you’re going to try a few phono stages in your own system, which is the only real way to do it. Looking forward to any conclusions you’d like to share.
My own curiosity towards the new Hagerman Trumpet MC was piqued enough that I’ve ordered one, so I can judge for myself whether a "killer" $1K phono stage is really possible. I don’t expect it to beat or match the VAC Renaissance I love so much, but I’ll be impressed as hell if it gets as close as I think it might? Other contenders so far have fallen far short when plopped in the main rig (ahem, super-value end-all $3K stage).
WONDERFUL system you have, and of course I’m proud to share the Canterbury GR in my own system. |
I am following this thread with interest.
I am auditioning a used Parasound JC 3+ on Sunday. Might be a solid upgrade from a Rega Aria?
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@grk,
Great! Please post your impressions once you get fully acclimated with EQ-500 :-) |
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Good luck getting a Luxman EQ 500 for under $3K!
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For your music preference I‘d suggest the Zyx Artisan: battery driven, ultra quiet and the opposite of harsh. |
I have a Hana ML as well, and I highly recommend the Musical Fidelity MX-VYNL with the upgraded sBooster power supply. It's fantastic. |
Thanks @lalitk . I look forward to hearing your comments. |
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Maybe consider a Manley Chinook SE MKII from Upscale Audio. I love mine and it was a huge step up from my last phono pre. The Sutherland 20/20 with LPS from what I have read is very good also.
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Its okay. I'd be butthurt too if I'd had to resort to calling anyone "dude".
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+1, three_easy_payments.
@mulveling,
I would ignore mc and his usual "$10K performance for $3K" talk. In his world, any and everything he owns represents over the top high value 😂
Thanks for your post and recommendation on VAC and Hagerman. |
@mulveling The "$10K performance for $3K" theme is go-to rhetoric MC uses when referring to the Herron in numerous threads. I can both read and comprehend. Anyone can. https://i.postimg.cc/5yhVmT8r/10KBS.jpg |
OK whatever millerdude, you can continue your wordy battle of semantics with someone else now. The VAC literally blows the Herron away. Better? And I’ll repeat the endorsement for Hagerman. |
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Keith is a super guy and certainly provides high value. I enjoy my 2A with Lyra feeding it. I didn’t run a super wide range of NOS thru it but generally it does not reward NOS. It does reward isolation and damping, power cord investment, IC’s and a separate power conditioner , but most tube stuff does. They do come up used.
i do have the ML you run but with a Croft RIAA-RS phono preamp, which is an insane value also. I use the genius Roger Modjeski RM-4 in front of it ( RIP RM )
somebody mentioned Jim White and Aesthetix, his gear is hyper well designed and upgrades available for a long life cycle.
have fun, enjoy the music and the journey!!! |
First, that's not what I said. What I said was, "
Nobody wants to believe you can get a $10k phono stage for $3500!
" Which you just proved. It was in the context of saying the Herron offers such high value its hard to believe. Which again you confirm. (You sure don't believe it!) So its all true, and beyond criticism. You just need to learn to read. And comprehend.
Case in point, the previous sentence was, "
Michael Fremer reviewed it as being comparable to anything in Class A- and that was the previous version!" So, two things: One, you have just picked a fight with Michael Fremer. Good luck! And two: Learn to read. And comprehend.
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Here’s where the hype gets out of hand. You can’t get a $10K phono stage for $3600. At least, not a "good" $10K stage’s worth of sound quality. I’ll take the $10K VAC Renaissance phono all day over a Herron. Music simply flows better from the VAC. To be fair the VAC’s built-in Lundahl LL1931 SUT is not the best choice for all MC cartridges (I bypass it and use a different outboard SUT). To its credit the Herron will work well with almost any cartridge. The Herron is extremely strong at its price point. But the cliché "performs at 2x/3x/4x its price" is well -- a bad audiophile
cliché. |
sumadoggie- I took delivery of a VTPH-2A about a month ago (running a Rega P10 through it). It is lovely and lives up to all of the praise heaped upon it in this forum. Keith also deserves all the kind words mentioned about him. It’s worthwhile to contact Keith and get a conversation going even if you don’t decide to buy from him. I’ve put about 30 hours on it. It’s wonderful out of the box and continues to open up. I haven’t even started to play with the capacitance plugs yet. Resistance. But yeah, its an impressive phono stage. Michael Fremer reviewed it as being comparable to anything in Class A- and that was the previous version! I actually think one of the bigger obstacles to wider acceptance is its low price. Nobody wants to believe you can get a $10k phono stage for $3500! Have you looked inside? If you do then its even harder to believe. How he sells it so cheap I don’t know. At 30 hours the bulk of the big improvements are done. But don’t be surprised if you notice a hundred hours from now it sounds even better. The improvements sneak up on you. For a real treat leave it on all day and listen late at night. You’re right about dynamics but probably the biggest surprise to me was how utterly "right" it gets the timbre and tone of every instrument. Keith tells me this is timing. Not something I ever thought of as timing before but when he started explaining and got into the Fourier Transform he lost me. Suffice to say the guy is absolutely obsessed with this stuff, and it shows in his work. |
@keithr,
Please post your feedback once you get situated with Maverick. I did look at the phono when I was considering F&R Montrose turntable. |
Manley Chinook or Gold Note PH-10 + PSU-10. The PH-10 is $1600 and can be used as a standalone unit or you can get the outboard power supply (PSU-10) for ~$1100 more.
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I just ordered the Fern & Roby Maverick, the collaboration with LTA and Berning. Will see if it beats my little Octave.
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Good luck. When my search was narrowed down to a few contenders I started looking at used. Never did see a Herron for sale. Saw one that had sold the day it was listed and before I started looking. Then kept looking a good 6 months after deciding it would be the Herron. (I buy components, not deals.) In 6 months I saw zero listed but two times people had them listed as WANTED.
They come up for a sale used much more frequently these days. Over the past 2 weeks I've seen two listings alone. https://i.postimg.cc/pLfmt3KJ/Herron.jpg I may consider selling mine in the $2500 range as it sees very little use since getting my Luxman EQ-500. |
Anyone here have any experience with E.A.T. E-Glo S or E-Glo Petit phono stages? |
I took delivery of a VTPH-2A about a month ago (running a Rega P10 through it). It is lovely and lives up to all of the praise heaped upon it in this forum. Keith also deserves all the kind words mentioned about him. It’s worthwhile to contact Keith and get a conversation going even if you don’t decide to buy from him. I’ve put about 30 hours on it. It’s wonderful out of the box and continues to open up. I haven’t even started to play with the capacitance plugs yet.
As to the post mentioning lack of impact for rock, etc., my stepson loves his vinyl hip-hop and I sit there and listen to it as well - and enjoy much of it - because the production value of those records with massive transient dynamics is amazing. While I lean towards well-recorded acoustic these days, I've listened to much of my old rock as well as some wonderful classical organ. The Herron does not lack for dynamics. |
Some people are married to that Herron, they are not allowed to look aside. |
I owned a Herron VTPH A for a bit. And while I thought it was great for classical and jazz, I felt that it lacked "pop" or sufficient transient response for rock. (Perhaps Keith Heron's training in classical music made for that difference?) I ended up selling it and the new owner was very happy. The Tavish Adagio plays all genres quite well.
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@lalitk
@chakster,
The Vida is on my top 5 list but I can only afford it used :-)
Prices for used VIDA are fine, I have no problem to buy used phono stage. Aurorasound home page |
The Herron vp2h-2a has traded over 70 times in the US used market since 2017 (source: hifi shark), some of those are duplicate postings though, but suffice to say there is a TON of secondary market activity on this unit and avg price is ballpark $2,500, so if Herron floats your boat, then just buy used.
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Aural Thrills Serenade at $1200 or their absolute best 'the Beast' at $2500 with the best parts used. The Serenade was the Absolute Sound's s Product of the Year a couple years ago. The Beast is a very large and even better sounding unit. Tom Kenny is the designer and has Benn building phono preamps while trying various parts, wires, etc. for over 10 years.
Bob
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I’d look very strongly at the new just released Hagerman Trumpet MC for only $1K. Previous versions of the Trumpet sold from $2K to $7K - it seems Jim has really focused on getting the cost down while keeping that level of sound quality. I used to own the old wooden faced “tower” Trumpet, and it was lovely at $2.2K+. At 1K it would be a stone cold steal. I currently own a Rogue Ares Magnum, Herron VTPH-2A, Sonic Frontiers Phono 1SE+, and VAC Renaissance SE (the VAC is far and away tops in both price and sound quality), but I kinda want to buy the new Trumpet to play with too! |
Used VTPH-2A Good luck. When my search was narrowed down to a few contenders I started looking at used. Never did see a Herron for sale. Saw one that had sold the day it was listed and before I started looking. Then kept looking a good 6 months after deciding it would be the Herron. (I buy components, not deals.) In 6 months I saw zero listed but two times people had them listed as WANTED. Its actually one of the things I have noticed having done this a long time. If you think you've found the best highest value component and they're on the used market, keep looking. Its not nearly as good as you think. Or nobody would be selling, and there would be way more buyers than sellers so they would be snapped up fast. Everyone has an opinion. Only one counts: Mr Market's. Keith Herron by the way, unless you live near one of his dealers, he gives a small discount. 10% I think. But they sell used for near that anyway. So when Keith told me I'm far enough from a dealer to qualify I said, "Sold!" |
@chakster,
The Vida is on my top 5 list but I can only afford it used :-) |
I own both the Herron VTPH2A and the Parasound JC3 Jr. Honestly, you’d probably be happy with both but the Herron is one of my favorites. |
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A current revision, one year old Herron VTPH-2A with grey/titanium faceplate is on AudoMart for $2549. |
Look for Aurorasound VIDA and read why it's not a conventional phono stage from the list above. |
@geof3 - thanks for that feedback.:-)
The problem with this hobby - when a later model of a component you own is released, you can spend time wondering what’s so good in the latest version.
Based on your feedback there would not appear be too much difference.
I just looked at the internal photo’s and could not see any changes, so I stuck with the 5.3, which still improves with cable upgrades
Perhaps they had a plan for introducing the 110LP and thought the 5.3 should get a new name and faceplate to match.
I did recently upgrade my Bluesound Node 2 to the 2i - but Bluesound had revised the circuit board which made an appreciable improvement, so that was one case where upgrading was sonically worth it.
Cheers - Steve
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@williewonka agreed. I too have the 5.3. I demo’d the 310 and really liked it, then found a 5.3 for a really good deal and saved some $$$. I think the primary differences are the faceplate, and perhaps a few minor others... sonically, pretty much the same. Great little phono stage! |
Thank you everyone for the recommendations. I’ve made a list and going to explore the what’s available for in-home audition. |
A Herron VTPH-2 just came on the A'gon in your price range. It is being sold by TMR--I purchased from them and had a good experience. |
Working with the same budget and some of your choices, I recently purchased a PS Audio Stellar Phonostage. So far, so good. Good sound and versatility. It’s my first PS Audio product. 30 day in home trial and I was able to trade in some older gear sitting in a closet to lower the price. |
+1 for the Moon - I have the LP 5.3 RS - basically it’s an earlier version of the 310LP I didn’t get the associated power supply, but I installed the best cables and it rewarded me with exceptional sound quality - extremely detailed - stunning clarity - balanced/neutral tone - i.e. not pushy at any point across the frequency range - great bass reproduction - superb imaging - very quiet - no hum - even at full volume (no music playing) - can configure to most MM or MC cartridges My only complaint is - you have to remove the cover to get to the switches to configure the unit to the cartridge - , but I’m not one for changing my cartridges, so basically I "set it and forget it" Been using it for around 7 years and it hasn’t skipped a beat Simaudio Moon is a Canadian company with a stellar reputation for quality designs/builds - they ripple the latest developments down to their lower end models. I looked a photo’s of both the 5.3 and the 310 internals and I could not see any difference - so the model # change was not due to a significant internal revamp If you are lucky you might find a previously enjoyed model.5.3 or 310 I found this demo 5.3 model https://www.musicdirect.com/phono-preamps/simaudio-moon-lp53-silver-demo And these used 310 models https://tmraudio.com/simaudio-moon-310lp-mm-mc-phono-preamplifier-310-lp/https://www.ebay.com/itm/224165209480Regards - Steve |
Check out the Simaudio Moon 310LP with or without the power supply... very nice PS that will give you that warmth you are looking for. |
You should look for an Aesthetix Rhea (used) in your price range.
At under $3K a great phono stage.
Also a +1 on the Luxman Phono. |
Check out the Tavish Design Adagio and you can roll tubes to get the degree of warmth you want. The only downside is that there is a 5-6 week wait for them, but occasionally, a used one will pop up for sale. : )
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+1 on TRON Electric Convergence. Exceptional build and parts quality. MM-only and MC variants are available, and the Signature versions are within your budget. I'm a TRON dealer so please take this recommendation with the appropriate amount of salt. Cheers, Colin https://gestalt.audio |
TRON Convergence - used to great effect by Jeff at High-water Sound in his recent system at RMAF, garnering much praise. Also available, I believe, directly from TRON in the UK |
Display name , I regret waiting too long to get LPS for my Sutherland 2020 . The improvement on my system is huge.... |
