Tube Phono Stage vs Solid State What do you think?

I've heard both sound very good. The biggest difference I hear is that tube units might have more hiss, while transistor units tend to play more surface noise. This has nothing to do with the bandwidth of either BTW. Beyond that a transistor unit often sounds brighter as well, although with the best, this is well-tamed.

I also had a Modwright phono stage, and I had sellers remorse when I let it go. I never had the chance to compare it one and one to a solid-state unit. But so far the Modwright is the best one I heard in my system that deliver the sound stage that I really like. A friend lent me his ASR Basis Exclusive 2010, which I am listening to now as I write this posting; but I just can't get it. It has good top and bottom but It does not have the sound stage the I like. It sound thin to me. I tried many records old and new. I don't know it it's the price that's affecting me.

I try to hit a happy medium by having a tube phono stage (Fosgate Signature) running into a tube preamp (Joule Electra LA-150 Mk 2) and out to a solid state amp (Belles 350A). Have tried in that fashion to get the soundstage depth and width plus real body to instruments while having good dynamics and bass--have mostly succeeded.

If you are using a medium output cartridge, such as .7mV and above, you should try the Artemis Labs Ph-1. It is an all tube design that gives you about 52dB of gain without the use of any stepup transformers.

It has great body, harmonics, dynamics, resolution, soundstaging, etc. I listen to a lot of classical and jazz and this phonostage being fed by wood bodied Benz MC's is outstandingly musical. Artemis Labs products have been very highly rated in the past at RMAF as well.

You don't see them come up used very often, but it is definately worth checking out in my humble opinion.

Tubes can be a pain. They can't vibrate and they need constant attention. They get hot, they can be noisy. Tubes can and do fail at any time they're on, You can't run them constantly, but they don't sound good until they get hot. Solid state you never shut off, A quality SS can last for decades. Setting up cartridges is simpler, I don't know, There was a time I would never own anything but a pure class A power amp because nothing else could sound that good, People did say they burn up and tend not to last more than 10 years, Even being careful they still doubled my power bill. Maybe that warm tube sound makes the trouble worth it for you.. Like Pass Labs made me a little crazy.