Phonostage for Rega P10

@jimkiely,
I'm completely satisfied with my Luxman EQ-500 and (2) NOS Brimar CV4003 and (4) ECC83 Gold Lion tubes.  I left the EZ81 stock tube in place.  I use Nordost Heimdall interconnects from my EQ-500 to my Van Alstine Audio FET Valve all vacuum tube preamp with NOS Mullard tubes.  I get pinpoint imaging, and deep layered and wide soundstage.  The mids are as good as I've ever heard.  The bass is deep and articulated, and the highs are extended but not fatiguing.  It's a fantastic phono preamp and I have no urge to upgrade after owning it for about 2 years.

You had a good idea already with the Allnic H1202. By coming here you were sure to get some confusing and contrary advice. Because the NVO costs more is not necessarily an indication it will outperform the H1202 although it’s a worthy alternative. So is the Herron. I like any of these three ahead of any of the solid-state devices that have already been mentioned. But this is not to say that there are not some good solid state alternative choices. I just can’t think of any right now that are in the same price range. As Chakster tried to say, with a cartridge that puts out 0.35 mV, you need to consider the gain of the phono stage. Can the H 1202 handle that relatively low output? I don’t recall whether it has sufficient gain for an MC cartridge without also adding a SUT. But I think it has a SUT built in. You want about 60db over all phono gain.

Luxman EQ500 is great, too.  Much cheaper in Tokyo, if by chance you dare to travel these days.