Recommendations for MM Phono ~ Tube or Solid State

“I have heard some systems of very high quality that incorporated SUTs, really good ones designed and built by Dave Slagle of EMIA, that were very satisfying”

@lewm 

Thanks for your sharing your experience. You obviously have been at this game longer than me, so your opinion matters to me. In upcoming months, I am going to decide which approach yields the best possible sound within the scope of my system. No matter what I end up keeping, it’s going to be lot of learning and I hope to have some fun along the way. 

Right now, I am anxiously waiting to take possession of a MM/MC tube phono from Japan. It appears to be well built, uses my favorite tubes (12AX7 or ECC803S) and have an option to select between Low and High gain for MC Cart.  

@theflattire 

I hope you get a chance to audition Aric Audio’s MM before committing to buying. 

@lalitk 

Little chance of that.  Just going by what I read and some youtube reviews.

I got his Custom 2A3/45 and really like it so I'm going by that also.

Lack of head to head comparisons is holding me back.

Maybe Aric can talk me into it.

Keep in mind that I have chosen to use high gain phono stages for LOMC cartridges, but not based on principle, based on listening to the particular phono stages I've chosen.

flattire, I am not sure what is your point in saying you will choose an MM phono stage plus SUT over your Modwright as a form of "simplification".  Were you using the Modwright with no SUT previously, owing to its high gain?  If so, I fail to understand why the conversion to an MM phono stage plus SUT can be viewed as a simplification.  You may prefer it, and all that, but why is it simpler?