ARC Reference Phono vs. BAT VK-P10 SE

Gladstone, thanks for the pointer, however, the Manley is not of interest as follows. Since I already have a BAT-VKP10 (bought used 1 year ago), the choice I'm contemplating is to upgrade the BAT to SE status or sell it and get a comparably low mileage ARC Ref Phono. The incremental dollars would be about $2K to do either. As may be relevant, I have an ARC RefII, MkII preamp (love its richness and body) into Pass X600's (love their transparency).

Go for the ARC reference. It's an incredible piece of equipment. Wish I had one myself.

Gladstone, but I'm NOT only listening to vinyl... have a full dcs setup for digital and have no interest in giving up the ARC preamp. Obviously, you love the Manley, and that's great, but it's not under my consideration...only the two components (three if you consider the BAT "SE" upgrade)I've asked about. If you don't like either, that's OK, too, and is noted.

I'm not trying to proselytize on behalf of the Manley, and I suspect your easiest path would be to upgrade the BAT. I've simply found running both CD player and phono stage directly into the amp to be far superior to the (in my view) excellent but still flawed ARC equipment.