How much difference does a phono preamp really make?

@mijostyn Awesome!! Thanks!!

Thanks again for all the wonderful replies. I am taking in all this great information.

@chakster "Better phono stage will not make your average cartridges any better. You have to start with a cartridge."

This sounds like excellent advice and I will definitely heed it. Thanks!

IF The cartridge is the most important, then why buy a good TT & tonearm first ? Well, there is a reason why. IT AIN"T SO. IF the cart was the most important, people would build their vinyl rig around it. BUT THEY DON"T.

So, OP If you buy the hogwash of the cart being the most important, then you should sell your TT & stand alone phono preamp and buy a cheap TT and a very nice cartridge with those funds.

@artemus_5  I didn't say that the cart is the most important component. What I will say is the 1210GR is the most expensive TT I feel comfortable buying. Now it becomes a matter of optimizing and getting the best possible sound quality with what I have.

From what I understand the arm on the 1210 is pretty good. Good TT, good arm, just ok carts, and a just ok phono pre. Makes sense to me that I would get the biggest bang for buck upgrading the cart. 

But I'm still taking this all in and trying to learn.

Cheers,
Joe

The most important component by far is the modem. Without that I am unable to connect to pay the utility bill, without which there is no power, and no system, and the power cannot even be turned back on. So it is definitely the modem. Or any other darn thing I can think of to make the point that there is no one most important anything. 

What you do noob, is if you have something that is known to be negatively affecting the sound, or is super easy or inexpensive to upgrade, then that is what you do. Because everything matters, and sorry to offend the others who got it wrong but everything matters pretty much about the same.  

Mostly what you want to learn is not so much which things make the biggest difference, because they all do. So forget about that. What you want to learn is which things can you do that will give the biggest benefit over the time you will have them.  

So for example a really sweet cart will be a huge upgrade. But depending on how many records you play it may last only a few to maybe a handful of years, at which point your wonderful cart is just about worthless. While a turntable or arm, good ones will make about the same initial improvement but last for years and years. Mine are over 16 years now. I have gone through three carts in that time. If I had bought the Koetsu way back then it would indeed have been a wonderful improvement. No doubt about it. It would also have kept me from being able to buy the table I got instead, which is now with me and running fine all these years later.  

So to really get the most from your audiophile dollar calls for planning the likes of which few here can truly advise you on. Once you have the plan, then we can. But by then you won't need much in the way of help. So relax. There is no right. Or wrong. And you will never be done- until you are ready to be done.... for now.  

@ audionoobie OP

I didn’t say that the cart is the most important component.

My apologies for the confusion. I know you did not say that. But others have. The lack of logic in the idea that the cartridge is most important is what I was trying to expose. Nothing wrong with your TT & arm. Yes everything matters also. But unless you have very deep pockets you have to prioritize what upgrades are necessary sound better. I seriously doubt a better cart is going to be a big upgrade. It may be some better. But you are still going to be wondering about that phono preamp.