What's A Good Upgrade From A Manley Steelhead?

Dear @rooze : Things are that I used for at least 10 years tube alternative everywhere, so I have the whole tube first hand experiences.

" I’m concerned about sacrificing some musicality (tubes) for musical accuracy (solid-state) and not realizing that there’s been a retrograde step in musical enjoyment until it’s too late....i "

Look, if you attend at a concert and the people surrounded you are not audiophiles and you mention talking with one of them the word " musicality " you can be sure that he will ask you what exactly do you mean with that.

I attend at least each week to listen live MUSIC and I can tell you that even with some gentlemans that are audiophile and when we are talking about the score we listened no one mentioned that word. What we can hear from them is: emotive, dynamic power, feelings, even ( depending how near you was seated from the source ) brigthness or harsness, transients response speed and the like but not: musicality, detail, warm, lush, nuances that are tube audiophile adjectives.

Now, I know what you mean by musicality and today in almost all SS electronics accurated is not " figthing " any more with musicality, both terms are true and live together in today well designed SS electronics.

Yes, @mijostyn is totally rigth and I agree with him not because both coincide about but because it’s a reality.

Sooner or later for the MUSIC lovers that " adopted " the tube sound signature will know the " true " that just are not willing not to accept it but even try it.

If at the end you decide to buy the 610/810 LP unit you have to take in count that that accuracy of the Moon unit will tell you all what’s happening in your system and maybe somethings you could not be totally satisfied  and this could happens in your system because nothing could be " hidden " behind the SS unit when with tubes that " hidden " happens day by day minute after minute. Anyway, you can be sure that the 610LP gives you nothing but what the cartridge pick-up from the LP grooves adding and losting almost nothing but MUSIC.

R.

@rauliruegas   OK, I feel embarrassed to have used the word 'musicality', it was lazy of me. I try to avoid words like that, they include 'organic', 'palpable', and a few others. But I think we're on the same page insofar as understanding what I meant.

Yes, I take your point and agree that (most) modern equipment is capable of delivering accuracy in a way that's also emotionally engaging and without driving you from the room. 

Tubes have a generic signature, it's there to varying degrees in any equipment that uses tubes and there's something about the nature of the sound of tubes that's appealing. It's what makes us go through the troubles associated with tube ownership. When we remove tubes from the circuit we might gain in other ways, but we invariably lose 'something' and it then becomes a case of having to weigh the pros and cons as objectively as possible. I find that nowadays it's harder for me to make these trade-off assessments easily without having both units side-by-side for a period, which was the crux of my comment.

I haven't dismissed anything at this point. I like the look of the Moon gear, I've owned their stuff in the past and it has always performed extremely well.

Rooze

@rooze 

Don't let @rauliruegas bully you into thinking anything in particular.  He doesn't know what you prefer at this point in time.  I think most know what you mean by "musical".  If you like the musical bloom of the tubes, then that's what you like.  It may not be "the absolute sound", but it's no doubt a very enjoyable listening experience.  It does look like Moon offers a listening trial, so take advantage of that and compare the phono stages.  It will no doubt sound differently, and in some ways better, and in other ways, probably worse.  Personally, I think that you will have to search a while (and possibly save more funds) to improve on the Manley Steelhead, but perhaps I'm wrong:  if it weren't one of the best phono stages, it wouldn't still be selling 20+ years after its introduction!   

Dear @rooze : " but we invariably lose ’something’ and ..."

Trade-offs always exist in the audioworld and unfortunatelly for the tube lovers are accustomed to those high kind of distortions and these is what you lose changing to the SS alternative but is not a "sad/good " lose. In the same way that you will miss in the short time that " lose " in a short time you will start to " accustom " of the new kind of " distortions " ( if any ) with the 610LP.

Every one of us have their specific targets in our room/system, mine is to stay nearer to the recording and if with my SS phono stage I add and lost the less of what cartridge pick up from the LP grooves then I’m nearer to the recording because through tubes that add/lost is higher that what you could imagine.

My feeilng ( I can be wrong ) is that you are a MUSIC lover that know the live MUSIC kind of sounds. Now if you are waiting that the SS alternative gives you " more of the same " but " better " then don't take that " road " and stay as you are.

My take too is that @drbond ( I can be wrong ) think that you are just an audiophile and follower of the corrupted AHEE. I don't.

R.

Are you using it with an SUT?