Is the Manley Steelhead still relevant?

15 years or so ago I sold my Preamp and bought a BAT vk5i se it came with new production RCA 6922 and couldnt enjoy the preamp. The amp took 8 6922's I knew it was the tubes so I bought some bugle boys it was better but music didn't grab me. Was advised to replace the 2 power supply tubes so I did. Just wasn't as fun listening to music anymore. I figured I needed to warm things up. I bought some nice NOS Valvo's then Mullards, everybody said the BAT was so great. I sold the amp. The funny thing was while I was chasing the tubes to fix the BAT I listened to my 10 pound Don Allen Preamp that came with some kind of odd ball $15 tubes he chose for building the preamp that was a complete joy to listen to, big tight bass, wonderful detail retreaval but main thing it was very musical. I saw a video of Kevin Deal talking how what makes the prima Luna so great was how much it weighs and how many parts are in it and bad sounding preamps are light with not many parts. I don't know if I agree with that one. Problem is with all the things involved in a system a few things can rhrough it off. You don't if you can fix it unless you try but it can be an expensive and agrivating road just to listen to music.

I've spoken with Kevin Deal's team at Upscale Audio. They highly recommend the Manley Steelhead.

The Steelhead is still relevant because its just a good circuit design. For a very long time it was the phono stage to beat. Since it can be used as a linestage and take the place of a preamp its an extremely flexible piece. My only problem would be using it was my ARC tube amps which are balanced only.

Just thought I’d add:
Most think the steelhead is a tubed unit. It’s a hybrid phono stage with transformer input, FET, then tube. Never heard one. But I’m partial to tubes.