What's A Good Upgrade From A Manley Steelhead?

Dear @drbond  : "  I think an upgrade should be 50-100% more in price, otherwise you’re just looking at different. "

Upgrade an audio system link has its real foundation not in the price that at the end could be tell you almost nothing other that it's more expensive. The foundation of that upgrade belongs to the engeenering level and build quality of the unit manufacturer and you can besure that the 610 does not envy your CH about.

R.

Wish I’d heard a Steelhead - almost bought a used one last year. What do you want to hear from its replacement? More detail & transparency? More warmth and body? More dynamic sound? All of that? (that’s hard to pull off lol).

• Herron VTPH-2A - This one doesn’t add warmth. It’s very clean & cool / neutral-ish in character. Not very tubey. I honestly don’t dig it on my Tannoys, where I desire more meat on the bones. BUT it’s proving a great partner for my Stax 009 / T2 rig - the T2 amp already provides all the necessary lushness on its own, and the Herron’s clean sound slots in well here.
• Hagerman Trumpet MC - Ridiculously cheap for how enjoyable it is to me. Gobs of warmth and body, lush midrange - honestly feels like it has a mild bass boost. Very tubey sound with an large & open soundstage. Responds well to NOS tube rolling. Works well with anything. This is literally the best I’ve heard my Benz LPS.
• VAC Renaissance SE - Classic upper-echelon VAC sound: very good resolution and dynamics, absolutely gorgeous midrange (natural, organic). VAC makes one hell of a phono stage, especially this 6-tube version. Neutral-ish when using the onboard Lundahl SUT. Not a huge fan of the Lundahls, honestly. You can get a more meaty sound bypassing them and using an outboard SUT (Koetsu, EAR, Bob’s Devices). Which I do!
• ARC Reference 3SE - OMG this stage is so good. It was my best overall phono stage, and I sold it (lol). Only because I went with huge VAC 300 Watt monos, and then the Master preamp matched best with those, and the Ref 3SE didn’t gel so well with the Master pre, for some unknown reason. I’m a particularly huge fan of its MM (low gain) mode. I still preferred my own outboard SUTs over its MC / JFET stage, but it was also very good! It is the cleanest, most linear phono stage with top marks in dynamics, detail, transparency, good body, and a touch of sweetness. Why did I sell this (oh yeah - I also needed the funds to afford the monoblocks). Perhaps surprisingly, the monoblocks made a much bigger difference in the overall system performance. 

@drbond 

Good point. This is particularly important at lower levels of investment… my rule is double the cost or it is likely a sideways step. So, we agree.
 

However, at this level, one must assume a more discerning pallet and a flavor change would be a big change. Here I would consider a Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, and a couple other top tier. 

I am totally with Raul on this; spending more money, even 2X more money, is in no way a guarantee of a performance upgrade.  A difference, yes, but an improvement?  Not at all necessarily.  Since we are all fallible and human, once we've paid a lot more money and we do hear a "difference", we are very prone to interpret that difference as an upgrade.

I like to see what's inside the chassis, and I know what to look for.  In my experience, more $$$ doesn't even guarantee more expensive parts, let alone better design and implementation.

I used to have same phono stage with similar vinyl set up. I replaced it with the VTL TP 6.5. 

Have not heard all, but only thing I have heard better than the VtL is the Boulder 2018.