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Phonostage recommendations under $3K

Folks,

I am looking to step up from my current Parasound ZPhono XRM (still under 60 days audition trial). To be honest, I am quite pleased with its performance, feature set and flexibility. I mean what else you can expect from a $600 phono. While I enjoyed listening to vinyl through XRM, I feel there is room for improvement and XRM may be the weakest link in my vinyl setup. And since XRM is the only phono I’ve experienced in my setup, I don’t have quite have a reference point. So what else should I be considering under $3K?

I prefer a relaxed and slightly warm sound since I mostly listen to jazz genre.

I started to put together a list list based on sound quality and flexibility with gain and impedance settings.

Parasound JC 3+ Phono Pre
Allnic H-1202
Leben RS30 EQ (requires a SUT for MC Cart)

I hear high praises on Herron VTPH-2A but it’s bit more than I would like to spend at this time.

My current vinyl setup, Thorens TD1601, ZPhono XRM, Hana ML (low output - 0.4mv), Accuphase E-650 and Tannoy Canterbury’s.

I would really appreciate some recommendations based on your personal experiences. Thank you!
128x128lalitk
keithr
1,304 posts
 
I just ordered the Fern & Roby Maverick, the collaboration with LTA and Berning. Will see if it beats my little Octave. 

kgturner's avatar
kgturner
663 posts
 
Manley Chinook or Gold Note PH-10 + PSU-10. The PH-10 is $1600 and can be used as a standalone unit or you can get the outboard power supply (PSU-10) for ~$1100 more.
lalitk's avatar
lalitk OP
5,055 posts
 
@keithr,

Please post your feedback once you get situated with Maverick. I did look at the phono when I was considering F&R Montrose turntable.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
sumadoggie-
I took delivery of a VTPH-2A about a month ago (running a Rega P10 through it). It is lovely and lives up to all of the praise heaped upon it in this forum. Keith also deserves all the kind words mentioned about him. It’s worthwhile to contact Keith and get a conversation going even if you don’t decide to buy from him. I’ve put about 30 hours on it. It’s wonderful out of the box and continues to open up. I haven’t even started to play with the capacitance plugs yet.
Resistance. But yeah, its an impressive phono stage. Michael Fremer reviewed it as being comparable to anything in Class A- and that was the previous version! I actually think one of the bigger obstacles to wider acceptance is its low price. Nobody wants to believe you can get a $10k phono stage for $3500! Have you looked inside? If you do then its even harder to believe. How he sells it so cheap I don’t know.

At 30 hours the bulk of the big improvements are done. But don’t be surprised if you notice a hundred hours from now it sounds even better. The improvements sneak up on you. For a real treat leave it on all day and listen late at night. You’re right about dynamics but probably the biggest surprise to me was how utterly "right" it gets the timbre and tone of every instrument. Keith tells me this is timing. Not something I ever thought of as timing before but when he started explaining and got into the Fourier Transform he lost me. Suffice to say the guy is absolutely obsessed with this stuff, and it shows in his work.
mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,774 posts
 
Here’s where the hype gets out of hand. You can’t get a $10K phono stage for $3600. At least, not a "good" $10K stage’s worth of sound quality. I’ll take the $10K VAC Renaissance phono all day over a Herron. Music simply flows better from the VAC. To be fair the VAC’s built-in Lundahl LL1931 SUT is not the best choice for all MC cartridges (I bypass it and use a different outboard SUT). To its credit the Herron will work well with almost any cartridge. The Herron is extremely strong at its price point. But the cliché "performs at 2x/3x/4x its price" is well -- a bad audiophile cliché. 
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