Ugraditus is calling....again. Phono stage?

@invictus005,

I saw your post on searching for the Holy Grail phono stage and your belief that most are terrible and that 6922s are bright and tube-based phono stages have mushy bass.   Not saying your experiences are wrong as many tube-based components can tend to have mushy bass.  I have not had upgraditis for over a decade. That said, I just got a new phono stage (it is being shipped next week).

i will keeep you posted but I upgraded to an Aesthetix IO Eclipse with dual power supplies. I upgraded because my former IO Signature went down (after a decade with no issues). I can say unequivocally that my former IO Signature had fabulous dynamic non-mushy bass and, although only 2 of its 24 tubes were 6922s, the IO was not “bright ” at all.

I’m excited to get the Eclipse with the second power supply - although it takes up serious rack space with three chassis and weighing over 130 pounds which makes it not for everyone.  The new phono stage now has 30 tubes so it is probably not the first thought for people just getting into a tubed phono stage - but I’ll keep you posted on whether it approaches Holy Grail status for me.

For reference, I’ll be running it with an SME 30 and SME V tonearm with a Dynavector DRT XV-1s into the Eclipse into a Conrad-Johnson ART III into Lamm M1.1 Ref monos driving Rockport Aquila’s.

Another option that I considered when I was using my first 2170 but never tried... 

Using a phono preamp that has a built-in ADC like the PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter or the McIntosh MP100.

Instead of having the Lyngdorf doing the ADC from it's own analog inputs, you would run digital out of the two phono amps mentioned above, using their ADCs that are meant solely for a phono analog signal straight into the Lyngdorf's optical/coax inputs, which sound best in my experience.

I have previously used the PS Audio NuWave for about six months, and used it's analog out most of the time which I thought was phenomenal, but was also impressed using it's coax and I2s output into a Wyred4Sound DAC2se.

Just food for thought...or at least an experiment.

Others' findings of the "faults" on 6922 tubes as a proclamation, is not accurate.

There are too many ways these tubes and their variants are used and designed around to make this sort of generalization.

Rogue Audio might fit the bill!
http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/70546/Rogue_Audio-Ares_Phono_Pre-amp-Phono_Pre_Amps

While I agree with the suggestions made by jmcgrogan2 I would add the following; if money is not a major concern you might want to move up the phono-stage tube line with the Allnic brand. 
Contact Albert Porter (Audiogon member Albertporter) and discuss with him. Not only is he also very knowledgeable about various high-end audio equipment but he is the North American Distributor for Allnic. I believe he can give you some additional good advice without trying to sell you on a particular product.