Two Paths to Musical Truth: The Case for Both Solid-State and Tube Phono Stages

@mulveling 

Thanks for sharing such a detailed breakdown. It really highlights just how variable MC implementations can be, even among high-end tube stages. I can see your point on MC gain stage often being the limiting factor in many tube designs, and that the choice of SUT can dramatically change the outcome.  I have not ventured into external SUT territory just yet for the reason that I am still working towards obtaining my ultimate cartridge and perhaps another phonostage. 

Another concern which you succinctly pointed out is integration. Fortunately, I have a very high-quality tube phono stage with a well-matched internal MC gain stage allowing me to preserve tonal balance, dynamics and the flow of the music without having to tweak or compensate elsewhere in the chain.

That said, your observations on the Pass Xono and XP-17 are quite compelling. I can imagine how the Xono’s warmth and the XP-17’s cleanliness would complement different musical moods. It reinforces my point that system synergy often matters more than chasing one “perfect” stage. even a legendary SUT won’t solve mismatched integration issues.

BTW, you’re one of the few posters I’ve closely followed over the years. My return to analog was in many ways inspired by contributors like yourself and those with an incredible journey, their willingness to share knowledge and experience so openly, without any hint of bias or agenda. It’s that kind of generosity that keeps this hobby both inspiring and grounded.

Cheers! 

We all know "Tube" is not for everyone, and others love tubes in the signal path. 

A good friend of mine has a mastering and recording studio. He’s also a musician. 

Many would not believe this, or want to, and go as far as stating its absolutely unheard of and "against all best practice standards" to use tubes in mastering and/or recording systems. Many have shared this is ridiculous to do, LOL. :) 

Well check this, he uses a dual tube DAC somewhere within the mastering/recording component stack and loves it. He’s retired now, and still does this for fun and musician friends who seek out his services and prefer his mastering and recording services. 

His reference playback system does not use tubes in the preamp or amplifiers, interestingly enough.  So go figure, to each his own.  

There was a time in recording history when every device in the chain of creating a new LP used tubes for amplification, etc.  Some would say that the LPs of that era are the highest quality best sounding LPs ever made, even including the mono LPs, or at least that those older LPs are certainly not categorically inferior to modern production done with SS.  So all of that proves nothing. All of the greatest RCA, Columbia, Verve, Blue Note, and etc recordings were made using tubes in the recording chain, including record lathes driven by tubes,

Faults often ascribed to tubes by those who dislike tube gear are usually due to subpar circuit topology or the quality of ancillary parts, like especially coupling transformers on amplifiers. A vacuum tube configured for audio is inherently a wide bandwidth, very low distortion device.

I've had tube phonos in the past, and moved on. Now I use a solid state phono-stage with dual inputs, the Boulder 1108. It is far and away the best sounding phono-stage I've ever had in every detail. There is nothing about my prior tube phonos (Fosgate Signature v2, Herron VTPH-2a) I would say is better, or even close. 

So you've proven to yourself that you like the Boulder 1108, which lists at $21,000, is better to your ears than the Fosgate and Herron, neither of which sells or sold for more than $3K (or thereabouts). What is the lesson to draw from that? Surely it is not the kind of evidence that permits one to conclude that SS phono stages are per se superior to tube phono stages. The Boulder may well be one of those SS phono stages that is pushing the envelope of what is possible in SS design. (I don't know, never heard it.). The two tube phono stages you've owned are not in that class, IMO.