Herron VTPH-2A Phono Preamp....anyone familiar?

@jhajeski...WHen I asked Keith Herron about that he told me that every aspect of the phonostage is improved. He didn't provide specifics. As for cost you should contact him about that, not me. I live 10 miles from him, so dropped my unit off at his place and picked it up again when he completed the work. He didn't have to deal with inbound and outbound shipping for me, so I'm pretty sure he factored that into my cost.

I owned the VTPH 2 several years ago (not sure if it as the "A"version) and while I thought it sounded superb on classical and jazz, I missed that "bite" and leading edge on transients with rock music. I felt it sounded a bit "polite" and since most of my records are rock oriented, I ended up selling it. If you are a classical and/or jazz fan, the Herron could be your destination phono stage, at a reasonable price.

grk's post highlights the "problem" with personal anecdotes about the perceived sound of any given component. This is not to single out or critique grk, but we can't know if his impression of the Herron is the result of the phono stage itself, or of it as only one link in the chain that is his particular system. Perhaps it is his cartridge, or loudspeakers, or line stage or power amp, or even room, that is creating the lack of "bite and leading edge on transients" he hears. And what if grk is looking for more of that characteristic than are you? There is no substitute for a personal audition, in your own system, with your own music.

I listen to jazz and classical, but also a bit of rock from time to time. There is absolutely no lack of of anything on the VTPH-2 (or 2a) for any kind of music. It has plenty of PRaT, musicality, bite and is the best presentation of all kinds of music that I have experienced with any phonostage on my system. It is certainly genre-neutral as far as I can tell.

I’ve had a brand new VTPH-2A for a few weeks now. It’s done a brilliant job in my SOTA/Stax setup, handily dispatching my Rogue Ares Magnum (filled with exotic NOS tubes); I feel that the performance gain with the Herron well exceeds its $800 MSRP price premium. Very happy with this phono stage!

I also run a rather pricey VAC Renaissance SE phono stage in my main rig. I wouldn’t have dropped that kind of coin (more then 3x the Herron) if I wasn’t completely blown away by it (I auditioned the non-SE base Renaissance in my system before purchase, a year ago). I tried the Herron in that rig, thinking perhaps it could match the VAC - but no not quite there yet; the VAC still has some extra magic. I’m going to let the Herron burn in some more, then try the VAC match-up again with some additional experimentation of SUT’s, etc. If it can match or even exceed the VAC in the end, I'd have no problem buying a 2nd unit. But I'm already exceedingly happy with the 2 setups I've got now.