Manley Chinook or Zesto Andros 1.2

Zesto is better built and better sounding with great bass,stage,inner detail,midrange and bass.Heard it at length at my stereo club.Good luck.

^...and you would expect that with the price difference, so no surprise there.  It all depends upon your budget.....which would help others give their opinion.  What is your budget?

I can stretch out my budget and get the andros. But I won’t be able to get a cart for the meantime. I just want to make sure that the andros is worth the $$$ than the chinook and it would be a good match with what I have right now.

I would also consider the Sutherland Insight or 20/20 if you can spend a little more.The DV P-75 is also high value (price/performance) phono pre as well. Cable Company sells all 3 and I'm sure they'll be able to send you demo units to try first.

In regards to the two phono stages you mentioned, Zesto is the easy choice.   I own the Andros 1.2 and would never consider changing it out.   If you need a Zesto dealer, definitely message me.  I've been working with one for a while now.  

I've  heard both with my tube amp, the "value" goes to the Chinook.

The Zesto is nice for the 2 arm setup. Aesthetics goes to the Zesto as well.
Adjustability nicer also, since knobs are all on the back. 

Both were quiet and straight forward as far as operation.The Zesto subjectively, edged out the Chinook in a "real" sound. I suspect the difference could be smaller, with tube/power cable swap in the Chinook. 

Both will sound nice in your system, it's your ears that will make final judgement. But if you can acquire the Zesto at a nice price-buy it.

I have the Classic/ AT ART9 ,your Prime is a step up. Bump up your LOMC budget to the Cadenza line, I heard a Blue on the Prime and thought WOW!
Yeah, that Quintet Black is nice, but we're here just once.....you deserve the best
possible.

Thanks for the replies everybody...

Another question... Does having a better phono stage and an ok integrated makes a big difference than having a ok phono stage and an better integrated amp?

It will be the phono stage that will extract all that it can from your cartridge; even though the int. amp will be the bottle neck take care of the pieces upstream, get the best you can afford, and, then consider upgrading downstream.

I have a Zesto 1.2 and a Cadenza black running with a SP10/EPA100 arm all through MAC Tube gear and Tannoy 15 inch Monitor Golds in GRF cabs. All I can say is killer pairing. Sounds wonderful.
Buy the Zesto and use the 2m till you can afford the Cadenza black.

Just bought the zesto. Will get here on wednesday. Can't wait!

You won't be disappointed in your selection!  I just went through this exact process a few months ago... Chinook vs Zesto...everything lead to the purchase of the Zesto over the Chinook!  This also meant that my cart upgrade got pushed off, but the Zesto is an amazing phono preamp and I'm SOOOO glad I went in this direction!

Seeing all the input everyone has made I stated out looking at the Chinook then found the Allnic H1202. I was told that they would choose Musical Fidelity Nu Vista Vinyl, and just learned about the Zesto 1.2. Current system setup is a Rega Planar 3 with a Denon MC cart. A Yamaha CX-800 to Anthem P5 into MB Quart Domain 55’s till I get my B&W Matrix 802 series 3 moved and looked up system sounds amazing. I also use a Denon DP62L with a Stanton cart. And recently acquired a Thorens TD 160.
Will a phono preamplifier really make the system that much better?
I appreciate all of your valuable input. Thank you. 

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