phono stage help please.

Pass Labs are a Company that embrace Tech’ as it becomes available that will offer new sonic.

The Company will reconfigure Topology and Circuit Design to exploit design changes. The swapping of a component only is not typical for a new product range.

Pass is not adverse to Circuit Board Tweaks, NP is active in the DIY community offering advisories on such matters.

There are a few DIY Phonostage Designs on DIY Audio that are known to punch well above their weight in relation to pricing.

I have been demo’d one SS Design with a BOM of approx’ £800 where it is commission built for less than £2K hold its own next to £10K retail.

From my personal experience. I had Ortofon 2M Black and moved to Hana MH then to Hana ML. Found Ortofon having more aggressive sonic signature than Hanas being more relaxed and mellow. ML seems to be able to pull out slightly more miniscule details from recording than MH. So, maybe for progressive rock and elecronic music Hanna might be too mellow. 

I also had Mani and now enjoying QHW Vinyl, see Framer' review: 

The Pass phono stages are excellent, but you should really look at the very highly rated Channel D Lino C. Stereophile has it as an A+ component. If you are a rock fan and you like your dynamics I would stick with the Ortofon. If you want a higher level of performance look at the Soundsmith Voice. It takes a $10,000 MC cartridge to outrun it. 

@pindac 

Iv'e been playing with my XP-15 for while and it is definitely upgrade from Schiid.

It is pretty much meeting my expectations but I think Xp-17 is in the stars near future.

@knock1 I agree with you, 2M is way more Rock orientated cartridge.

Hana ML sounds great at Jazz electronic and ambient, for metal  and prog 2M does slightly better job