Tube or solid state phono stage?

Personally, I’ve never had a solid state phono stage that satisfied me. But admittedly, I have not tried many: a 2-box Trichord Delphini 25 years ago, which was left in the dust by a succession of tube phonos; and recently, a MoFi MasterPhono bought mostly for its current drive. But it did not have the holography and palpability of image (along with excellent dynamics) that I prefer, and which are characteristic of good tube phonos, so I sent it back. I do plan to try the Channel D Lino 3.3 soon, another SS current drive. We’ll see. Return policies are a godsend.

I should add that my tube phonos—and most on the market—incorporate step up transformers, adding gain for LOMCs without extra noise. I’ve never owned an all-tube phono stage but I’ve heard a few.

if you’re looking for a tube-based phono with superb dynamics, I can recommend the Manley Steelhead. When I owned it, I thought that was its forte. Along with great flexibility.

I have an all ARC system and have used solid state and tube phono stages with it. (Starting out, I thought perhaps solid state would be the way to go). The ARC phono stages provide a synergy with their amps and preamps that cannot be beat with anything I've heard. I have the Ref Phono 2 SE , Ref160Ms and Ref 40 with TechDas Airforce 3 Premium S and various carts including Lyra Atlas Lambda SL and Dynavector XV 1t .

Can hardly stand to listen to my CDs.

Dynamic and musical. Not at all too warm. Go with ARC.

Neither :-) Pass XP Phono on MOSFETs.

Lots of really good recommendations and best of luck. Got to hand it to posters on this site, they really helped when I got started. Have an Allnic 7000 H and must say their phonos are generally the best in their lineup. I must say though, BAT upper end phono stages will absolutely slam you. They have balanced inputs also.

As others have said, Audio Research for system synergy.