Any Herron VTPH-2 Phono Stage Owners out there?


Has anyone recently purchased a VTPH-2? Any thoughts compared to other phono stages costing around the same price of $3,600? That still is a lot of money and a lot of good competition out there. I was also looking at a couple of the Sutherland units (the DUO and the 20/20).

Another concern is that I have a Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP Integrated Amp and was wondering how another tube phono stage would sound with the tube phono stage? Is it better to Mix solid state phono stage with a Tube Amp or keep it all the same (all tubes or all solid state?). My turntable is a VPI Prime with Ortofon Quintet black cartridge. Thanks!
djfst

Showing 2 responses by dodgealum

I've posted before about the Herron VTPH-2 but will chime in again with nothing but praise. Thoughtfully designed, well-made, beautiful sounding and comes with great support from Keith. When I went to a separate phonostage my first choice was solid state--a Whest PS30R. Nice unit for sure but when I decided I wanted to try a tube unit I did some research and thought I'd give the Herron a go. Spoke to Keith several times and was really blown away by his knowledge, demeanor and commitment to my audio quest. I ran the Herron against the Whest and it was no contest--a far more musical, effortless and tonally correct presentation. Is it the best phonostage out there? Who knows, everything is system dependent. But for my listening tastes and in my system the Herron is incredibly satisfying. I've owned it for something like five years and have never thought about replacing it and probably never will, even if I somehow had lots of found money to dump into my system--I'd spend it elsewhere. The best advice I can give to anyone considering the VTPH-2 is to give Keith a call and talk to him about what you are trying to achieve. If he thinks the VTPH-2 will get you there he will say so. If not, he will say that as well. As always, trying a component in your system is the only/best way to know if it is the right product. Good luck!
Again, really happy owner of a VTPH-2. Compared it to a Whest PS30R which I owned for some time and found the Herron to be as quiet and detailed but MUCH more musically correct. No experience with the Zesto but for the sake of clarity the Herron is a tube unit (Keith does not recommend rolling tubes though some owners have reported on their experiences), has multiple cartridge loading options via resistor plugs which are inserted to the rear panel (Keith favors running the unit "wide open" in most cases--I've never used any loading in either cartridge I've used with the unit finding his "infinite loading" to be quite satisfying) and gain is adjustable at two levels via the use of a different tube compliment. I'm a big Modwright fan so the PH150 intrigues but I doubt anything will tempt me away from my VTPH-2.