Zesto Andros 1.2

Just don't go by cost as a measure of performance.

Yeah, ah, no. That's not what I'm doing. But most of the time, allowances have to be made for a certain price point. 

That said, when the dust settles I may prefer the SPL. There are no guarantees. Just looking for opinions here.

Zesto makes some of the best tube gear out there.   George is a musician,  engineer, and talented designer.     He has a "good ear" so to speak regarding the voicing of a component.    

I would definitely take a chance on a pre like the Andros after owning a Zesto Leto preamp.

I had an Andros 1.2 for a few years.  Liked it so much went to an Andros Deluxe II.  It sounds great, reliable and dead quiet.  Before that I used a ARC PH3SE and an ARC SP11 MKII, Andros was far better than both for me an my system.

I have been using an Andros 1.2 for well over 5 years now.  It is marvelous.  I've made a number of significant upgrades to my system, but had little interest in changing it.  I'm just now replacing it with a Tessera Reference.  The primary reason is to allow me to connect two tone arms with MC carts and easily switch between them.  Front panel controls and balanced outputs are a plus for me as well.

But otherwise, I think I would still be very pleased to keep it.  I've used it with at least one cart that at retail was twice the price and never found it wanting.  Neutral, natural, full sounding but not warm.  Very quiet for a tube phono stage.  Very highly recommended.

Thanks for all the comments so far.