What's A Good Upgrade From A Manley Steelhead?

what a loss...

Maybe if you hadn't been condescending and didn't assume things about me, we could have taught each other a few things, but oh well.

I did hear the Steelhead and a lot of phono preamps, side by side. Your argument that I had to own one to have a seat at the table made 0 sense to me. You don't have to own a rocket to have a PhD in the subject.

@rooze: Are you familiar with the gear tastes and/or reviews of the late Art Dudley? His hi-fi priorities were first full-bodied tonal color and saturation, followed closely by "forward rhythmic propulsion"---the timing characteristics of hi-fi gear, a subject little discussed in hi-fi reviews (Herb Reichert being one exception).

Art preferred the pre-amps and power amps of Shindo Laboratories above all others (though in his review of the EAR-Yoshindo 912 he stated it provided sound competitive with his Shindo). I don’t believe Shindo offers a separate phono stage, but you can do what some hard-core 1950’s-60’s audiophiles did---use only the phono stage of a full-function pre-amp (phono and line stages), sending the RIAA signal available at the tape out jacks of a Shindo (or any other full-function pre-amp for that matter) to your own line stage. Who knows,. you might like the Shindo line stage as well!

I have not heard the Steelhead in my own system or one that I am familiar with, so I have only a general impression.  I like what I heard from the systems I've heard, so it is certainly a good phonostage.  I like what I run, a Viva fono, but, I have no idea how it compares in sound to the Steelhead or other phono stages for that matter. 

I tend to like tube-based electronics, regardless of the potential for higher  noise, poorer measurements, etc.  There is a naturalness, a larger scale, and a sense of the music blooming into the space and filling the room that solid state doesn't quite achieve.  I also like the way tube electronics deliver a lively, engaging sound at lower volume levels.  I am also one that likes, even amongst tube gear, stuff that has more, and better, transformers.  I prefer tube phono stages with a step up transformer than ones that try to achieve sufficient gain with active stages. 

I can only offer some rough suggestions of brands you should at least audition for warmer sounding phono stages.  There is the Audio Note (uk) line that ranges from expensive to ridiculously expensive.  The thing is, their stuff does really sound good.  Their gear requires a step up transformer moving coil cartridges, and they make very good transformers for that purpose.  This is a company that makes most of their own parts (they wind their own transformers, make their own resistors, capacitor, inductors, even their own solder).  Very much in the warmer sounding camp.

The Italian company Lector makes some good sounding tube electronics.  I have heard their phono stage and I like it--a lively, engaging sound.  I also liked the high end Zanden tube phono stage I heard; I believe it comes with its own built-in step up transformer (like my Viva Fono).

Have you considered keeping the Steelhead and perhaps getting something else with a completely different sound just to mix things up once in a while?  That might be something easier to do than finding something that is "better" than an already fine component.  I am not so inclined myself, but I have heard gear that was intriguing such that I might want to use it occasionally, even if it is not what I want to use day-in and day-out over a very long period of time.  In the phono stage realm, that would be the solid state Lyra Connoisseur phono stage.  I heard it in a show system that was explosively dynamic when playing records (meaning the phono stage brought a lot to this quality of the system).  Unfortunately, the Lyra is no longer made and is extremely rate, and even 15 year models when they do show up are well north of $15k.   

@bdp24 Interesting idea. I've heard Shindo gear a few times over the years, always in well-curated systems and it has always impressed. Your mentioning the 912 has reminded me that that particular unit was high on my 'watch list' a couple of years back before I bought the Emotive Epifania linestage, and then later the Veloce LS-1. Perhaps I'll revisit that.

Yes, Art Dudley helped take me down the path of exploring vintage speakers with his writings on the Altec Valencia. I ran the Valencia 846b for a while and later the larger VOTT A7. 

Thanks for reminding me about the EAR-Yoshindo 912.

@larryi I'm with you on the virtues of tube gear. Thanks for the suggestions. I've heard very little from Audio Note's electronics line, just their speakers, which I've heard at shows and up at Deja Vu Audio near DC.

I suppose the idea of running a second phono alongside the steelhead makes some sense, though I do have a second system with an Allnic H1202 and an old VPI TNT that I need to bring into service.

All good suggestions, thanks.