Phono Stage upgrade to complement Dohmann Helix One Mk 2

Dear @lewm  : " Keep in mind that Raul has a fanatical hatred for any component that uses a vacuum tube. His judgement is not objective.."

WRONG again. As you I was a tube love for 10+ years and the Ongaku that pani named was my last experience with because at that timwe and contrary of you I LEARNED and I know in OBJECTIVE terms that the worst place to have a tube electronic unit is a  phono stage .

"" Contrary to Raul’s insinuation, I never said or even meant to imply that the Manley Steelhead is the be all and end all of phono reproducers. But I think that my tweaked one is pretty good. ""

WRONG again+, that's only yur imagination I never posted that " insinuation " and your " pretty good " unit is because you still like to live in the " error ", fine with me. It's your problem, got it?: your problem not mine.

R.

Dear @pani  : " But their new Gaku-Oh is totally a full frequency dynamic beast. The same is with GE10 phono. The only problem is people can't muster spending $60k on a MM only phonostage. ""

Just at the end of mt over 10 years audio tube stage my friend and Audio Note distributor gave me the opportunity to listen for 3 full weeks the Ongaku when I told him that I decided to go with all SS electronics and till today and even that I listened several other contemporary tube electronics just don't " come back to ".

I'm really way demanding as I know you are in the quality level performance of any room/system I been or be listen it. As I posted I'm not married with what " I like " but with how it : should be.

Thank's for your post.

R.

I am not quite sure why you are so provoked by some of my opinions, but this line of argument is too silly to continue. I’d be interested to see a list of tube phono stages that you currently would endorse as competitive with whatever are the best SS units in your opinion. Even a hybrid type that meets with your approval would be interesting to know about.

I once spent a long afternoon listening to first the Ongaku and then the Gaku-on with an outboard power supply. On the same system and driving the same pair of Audio Note speakers, etc. First one amp, then the other. My impression was both sounded "very good", but they did not sound the same at all. It seems to me that there should be one "Absolute Sound". The best amplifiers should begin to sound the same as you approach perfection in amplification. That experience drove me away from SE amplifiers in general, and anyway SE amplifiers are not suited to driving ESL speakers that I favor, by and large.

@kennyc 

I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned the vdH Grails.  They seem to be grossly under-rated here and almost never mentioned.

A couple of years ago I auditioned the more complex SE against Nagra, Boulder 1008 and AR Ref 3 in my system for three weeks.

It was the best of them.  Nagra wasn't nearly tight enough.  Boulder way over-clinical, really unmoving and tiring to listen.  AR better than those.

But the vdH was an unbeatable combination of accuracy and musicality.  I guess it was voiced by AJ although I understand he didn't contribute much to the electronic design.  Long story short I bought it and haven't looked back.  This is my last phono amp.

Yes, the current design is a big advantage as no manual impedence matching is needed and it works equally well with any MC cart, although all mine are at the low output end.

@drbond I envy your dilemma - lovely turntable 

I heard the FM in a Vertere FM chain and it was compared to live music and I couldn’t tell the difference - astonishingly good 👍 

I was also deeply impressed with a Constellation. I was not as impressed with a Zanden set up nor the KSL set up - I found both a bit syrupy and soft.

I heard the previous Whest reference and it is exceptional at hanging things in space and time. A new one is coming out this year - speak to James Henriot who makes them. It’s some way off ur price ceiling - around £10k but I’m sure you’ll go for performance so it’s worth a whirl. 
i would hope that with your demands dealers will happily lend you a component for a few weeks to decide properly - I hope you get a good one .