Conrad Johnson and Herron comparisons

I agree with your assessment. Neutral is the new goal for most manufacturers. My ET5 sounds best with a Mazda 7308, better than my CCA. Herron balances transparency, tube magic, musical, and clarity. I love both and spend a lot of time changing cables.

Keith is a super guy and accomodated some custom work on my phono preamp front panel. I would certainly seek out an audition. The GAT series is serious stuff and IMO deserves equal audition time. 

have fun, enjoy journey and the music

Jim

cellorover

you probably already know this but the et5 runs the tube filament at 6.3-6.4 volts so regular 6dj8 spec tubes are overdriven, and live short lives

i have found pcc88/7dj8’s of various makes last much longer, and can sound very nice, especially hungarian philips/tungsram and yugo tesla 32’s - i understand et and gat current production units are being shipped now with the 7dj8 tubes

perhaps the saving grace of the et5 is it runs that single tube, so tube rollin’ is easy and relatively cheap - i had the premier 16LS2 prior, the six tubes in series made one think a little harder about random experimentation :)

....loved reading all of your responses so far...thanks folks

saika2

Thanks for asking this, I was going to post something remarkably similar. I am in the process of making the same decision as you. Hopefully you won’t mind me asking a question in your thread. I thinks it’s similar enough to your initial ask that it will add to the conversation, and not detract or hijack.

I have narrowed the preamp’s I’m considering down to:
Herron VTSP 3a preferably (Rev 3)
CJ ET-5
VAC standard LE preferably with the separate power supply.

I’m currently using a Cj Premier 4 amp that has been modified and updated, an Air Tight phono stage (I only listen to vinyl on this system). Up until a few months ago my preamp was a CJ premier 2. I really enjoy this preamp, but it is in serious need of TLC. I plan on keeping this and having work done on it in the future, but in the meantime I would like to implement a more modern preamp into the mix hence the above selection.

I have a very wide array of music I listen to. I’m most interested in a preamp that is dynamic, detailed, images well, and doesn’t lose the tube magic that the premier 2 displays.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.