MC phono stage without transformer?

Getting back to Viper's inquiry: "so if transformer is no good, I should really be looking for an MC phono without the tranformer? Do these exist though?"

Upon, examining direction that the thread has taken and the attention to various ultimate designs that is paid, it seems Viper should consider the high priced ultimate options for the ultimate in sound...Essential, Atmasphere, Doshi, etc....Perhaps this will work for Viper.

Perhaps not. Viper, what say you?

For lesser systems, I'm seeing a near consensus even among the proponents of transformerless stages that a transformer can be a viable option. What is not clear is where this boundary lies.

....and as Atmasphere pointed out, the more resolving your system is, the easier it is to hear the colorations of the transformer....

The more resolving your system is, the easier it is to hear the colorations of anything! A large percentage of highly-praised cables here are quickly shown to be poor performers in such a system long before any critiquing of SUTs comes into the scene.

Uh-oh!! Cable war alert. All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations. Cable war alert. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!!!!

Plinko, I am in a state of confusion...still trying to wiggle my way out of the maze. Keep the thread going, I thoroughly enjoy the debates :)

The thing that puzzles me in all of this is in absolute terms, how much performance can be obtained with a very low-output MC cartridge that requires a step-up transformer and/or a high-gain transformerless phono stage, as compared to a medium-gain MC cartridge that's happy with a wide variety of medium-gain tube phono stages. All things being equal in the phono section, are .1-.3mV MC cartridges inherently superior to .4mv and higher cartridges, more cost-effective, or both?

As an aside, the best medium-gain MC cartridge that I've had in my system is a .5mV Helikon. I'm curious whether a high-gain transformer-less phono stage(with say 70db gain) can achieve similar or greater performance with a relatively inexpensive cartridge with output in the .2-.3mV range.