Best cost no object tube phono

Mulveling, if 65db is not enough gain via the MC inputs, you can use a SUT into the MM inputs. And since you can have anywhere from 50 to 65db gain thru the MM inputs , plus the voltage gain added by a SUT, there is absolutely no cartridge on earth that has too low a voltage output for the Steelhead. I have run my AT ART7 with an output of 0.12mV via the Steelhead with no SUT. I am currently running my Ortofon MC2000 into the MM inputs using a pre preamp to boost cartridge output.

$10K is not cheap. The build quality is very decent but some capacitors in the signal path could be upgraded. I’ve done so in mine. No preamp on earth is worth $90K. I don’t care how many chassis’ are needed for stereo. Steelhead is frequently mentioned here, so I don’t know why you think it’s under the radar.

I bet that's expensive, given the pretentious descriptive passages on the website.

Problem with an LPS into a 1:15 SUT is you end up with the cartridge seeing a 209ohm impedance. That could audibly attenuate treble, assuming a 47K ohm load resistance across the phono inputs, but Reimac was not complaining about that. The mismatch would not cause excessive hum or noise.

Reimarc, You need an in-home evaluation by another experienced and knowledgeable audiophile. Your story is much too complex to be addressed by anyone who hasn’t been in your listening room. I assume Dave Slagle knew you were using a cartridge with a 37 ohm internal resistance. Because pairing that with a 1:15 SUT is tricky. Of course, now you are presumably not using the SUT with the XP25. And your issue is not with the XP25 so much as it is that you are surprised the XP25 did not cure your pre-existing problem(s). Can you boil down your lengthy story to one or two sentences? That usually gets better results here. By the way, no one "needs" a $30,000 and up phono stage, like any of those you apologized for not being able to afford, in order to enjoy noise-free vinyl.

realworld, I am an admirer of Hagerman, have long been interested in his Trumpet phono stage, yet I never heard of the Violin phono stage.  You imply it is no longer available.  When was it made, during what period of time?  Have you got a schematic?  Thanks.
While I am also an admirer of the Wavestream Kinetics, I think the need (not the occasional usefulness) of all the extra equalization filters is over-rated, at least with respect to my own LP collection, which mostly post-dates the use of anything other than RIAA.
This is an interesting topic, as it forces one to conjure up old time highpoints in audio design and designers.

The best phono stages I have ever heard are the Atma-sphere MP1, Raul’s and Jose’s 3160 phono line preamp, and the Ypsilon phono stage, if you only need enough gain for MM cartridges. With modifications to its output stage, I would add the Manley steelhead version 2.0 to that list. I have never heard the Wave Kinetics phono stage, and I looked hard to find one on the used market the last time I was shopping, but I would sure like to hear it.
So on my list I have all-tube, all-ss, and hybrid designs. I have heard the Io, the Dolshi (not the latest), and a few other highly regarded ones, and in my opinion they fall a little short of the ones I like best, mostly due to noise. I have also owned two different examples of the MFA luminescence, and those did not rise to the highest level. I never heard the “legendary” CTC blowtorch or the Vendetta.

Teo, nice piece of writing. You realize it’s all assertions on your part, I’m sure. But you have left us all hanging. Is there any piece of commercial manufactured equipment that meets your very high stipulations? Or are you saying the wave kinetics unit does that? You talk about our sensitivity to odd order harmonic distortions. Does it matter if solid-state devices produce odd order distortions, if the level of those distortions relative to signal is extremely low, lower if done well than that of tube- based phono stages? If a tube-based phono stage were to have the band width that you deem to be necessary, then it would also be able to produce odd order harmonic distortions on out to super high frequencies, which might be a downside, or not. Alan Wright who designed some very fine phono stages wrote a booklet on this subject, where he also was in favor of very wide bandwidth in (tube) phono stages. He claimed to hear a difference between 1MHz bandwidth and 750kHz, using his RTP3C phono. The RTP3C used a balanced hybrid cascode input stage, a bipolar transistor on the bottom and a high Gm tube on top. This gives huge gain, very low noise, and megahertz bandwidth, not to mention balanced operation. Best of all, it could drive both tube and Ss purists nuts, because it was both. I’ve never heard the RTP3C, but I’d like to.