Phono Preamps with "balls" ?

I don't know about the 12 but the ones I'm refering to were the MAT02 and 03 that were the ones that Levinson used. Probably out of production. Btw, AD had those devices in " space grade " specs.

R.

@avanti1960 I’m curious as to what you find out and direction you go. I too am looking for a possible upgrade in the phono pre area. I like the Lehmann, especially for the price, but like you find it lacking at times.

What's your amp and speakers?

C’mon guys, this one’s easy. 

Phono pre with balls?

Art Audio’s Vinyl One.   

Done.  

I get a perfect match with my AT-120eb and my Audio Research SP8, very dynamic and natural sounding. Next up is a Denon DL-103 with my SUT. All this great sound on a restored Pioneer Pl-41D belt drive. Sounds very musical. I love that ARC SP8, it's the best addition I ever made to my system.

Billwojo

This is a long thread with a lot of technical info added in for fun; but my take on phono preamps is based on a shoot out I had with a grouping of mid range priced units.  The price range was $1500 to $4K with some $2.5K stuff in the middle and one lower priced straggler at $700 for fun.
Hands down, as in no competition, The Whest Three Signature blew the others out of the water.  It had huge dynamic range, very powerful low end which was crisp and wonderful smooth mids to upper range.   It just did it all and very well.

I brought in a Whest 2019 PS.30 RDT SE to compare against the Whest Three Signature, keep in mind this is much more expensive and it was customized by James for a 19 pf input capacitance with a special gain setting at 48 db to work seamlessly with an Audio Technica AT20ss vintage cartridge with a NOS original stylus on a Beryllium cantilever. 

There is a definite similarity between the Three and the PS.30 RDT SE; you know that they were built  by the same team.   However the PS.30 RDT SE takes things up a notch in the detail it pulls from the recording.   I'd say the Three is 95% of the 30; but it takes a lot more money to pick up another 5%.  And to go up higher from the 30 to say the 40 series or even the Titan Pro will take a doubling of expenditure.

I'd say from what I have experienced, the Whest Phono stages are the top of the line.