Always being very personal on tastes makes it tough to give recommendations.I was in a similar situation last year. Tube or SS?I have a Cronus MKII with a nice sound using my combination of tubes.I bought a Rogue Triton "II" SS phono ($1295) I’m into the Rogue house sound. This is a sleeper Phono that came out late last year. It has everything in adjustments, Sub filter, Stereo/ mono, 70db gain, no stepup this time around, .Extremely quiet and dynamic with the Cronus II. I like it a lot with my Shelter 501 II on a Clearaudio Emotion ES, CMB bearing, Satisfy Carbon Tonearm.
Rega P8 Phono Stage, better than EAR 834p
Love my Rega P8 and it's even better with an Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge. I've owned, used and loved my EAR 834p MC/MM w/volume control phono stage for over a decade. I've paired it with a Bob's Devices 1:20 SUT and really I find no faults with the whole thing.
But... as I said it's been over a decade and I don't know if anything is better AND within a reasonable price? I know many of the best are sky high in price now. If I were to try something new it would be under $3,000 (new or used).
My integrated amp is all tube (Rogue Cronus Magnum II) so, a solid state phono pre might be a good choice. The only thing I'm looking at right now is the new $2,400 PS Audio Stellar Phono. But is anything in that price range an improvement over the very fine EAR?
But... as I said it's been over a decade and I don't know if anything is better AND within a reasonable price? I know many of the best are sky high in price now. If I were to try something new it would be under $3,000 (new or used).
My integrated amp is all tube (Rogue Cronus Magnum II) so, a solid state phono pre might be a good choice. The only thing I'm looking at right now is the new $2,400 PS Audio Stellar Phono. But is anything in that price range an improvement over the very fine EAR?