New Cartridge or New Preamp

Really, everything is important. For my system the greatest improvement was obtained when I cleaned up my power. Second, a used phono preamplifier. I say this because in my system I went from an integrated with built in preamplifier to a $2400 new preamplifier and ended with a fairly high end preamplifier purchased used that made a major improvement in my system. My turntable is much like yours and I also greatly upgraded my cartridge and this did make a difference, but I don’t think it would have heard as much difference with a lesser phono stage.

The other advantage of going with a separate phonostage is that it opens up the world of LOMC cartridges. Unless you got a separate SUT you likely don’t have the gain to run these with your current setup. If the sonic goal is greater detail then this would be a reason to move in that direction.

Thank you all for your responses so far.

@tablejockey thanks for your detailed response.

I’ll definitely consider adding a better phono stage to my setup. 

Being just a little obsessed with moving iron pickups, I have acquired a Soundsmith Sussurro MkII along the way. It's a couple of steps higher up their food chain than the Zephyr, but even so it has been a disappointment. It seems bland and unexciting, a complaint I can also level against the Grado Statement 3. Playing with resistive loading (using an MC input) helps, but doesn't save the situation. Frankly, the Nagaoka MP-500 walks all over the pair of them.

I'm in the process of adding two extra tonearms to my two turntables. So far, the London Reference, Ortofon Kontrapunkt C, and Nagaoka MP-500 have earned their seats. Rather than use the Sussurro or Statement, I'm thinking the last spot should go to a mono cartridge (or, Gawd 'elp me, one of those two with Y-connectors to make a bridged mono cart!)

I doubt the RP-1’s onboard phono will tap the capabilities of your existing Bronze and Black, much less a more expensive MC. Lots of good choices in the 2K - 3K range, including the Rogue Ares. Lots of decent choices in the 1K - 2K range too. For a budget option I’m extremely partial to the Hagerman Trumpet MC, which at ~ $1200 new or < $900 used is just ridiculously good for the money. It’s still the best I’ve heard my Benz LPS (which is a bad match for my much more expensive SUT-based MC stages), it did a shockingly good job with Koetsu Coralstone Diamond, and it DEFINITELY got the most out of a humble Ortofon 2M Blue! I’m about to hook mine up again for a new setup at my girlfriend’s home, but it’s tempting to snag it back for an occasional spin in my (very expensive) main 2ch rig too - when I do this it is by far the least expensive component in that rig (including cables), and it’s not even close.

If you like a warm sweet sound, you may even prefer it to $3K options. Great tube rolling opportunities, too. Jim Hagerman really cut costs way down on his current line (wall wart switching PSU here) but he somehow kept sound quality extremely high.