Manly Steelhead - any downside??

I have owned an Art Audio Vinyl 1 phonostage and currently have a Thor. Both tube. The Vinyl 1 is terrific for any price and it goes for about 2.3k. It is quite warm and welcoming without losing detail. The soundstage is particularly deep. It is amazingly quiet. Really quiet. I would look into it.

The Thor is an improvement in all respects but quite a bit more $. More than the Steelhead. I'm a big fan of Thor.

thanks Nrchy, my choice of lack of does not invalidate the choice and joy the steelhead is bringing to many other music lovers.
Yes, the trials and tribulations of the hi fi hobby. In the last 12 mnths gone from worn out xv-1 to dyna xv-1s and biggest change of all is going from big cj tube mono's to cj SS prem350.
All those changes have changed the systems tonal qualities slightly,tighter better controlled bass, however the SS amp does not have quite the treble delicacy that the old prem8a's had.( no such thing as a free lunch) It is still SOTA SS sound, but does not sound like tube treble. If I still had the prem8's I would have like the steelhead more.

Interestly I just borrowed an ARC SP-8 from a mate and using his phono section, and it sounds great. makes me wonder how much hi fi has improved in the last 20 years. Even the P-75 I am using sounds close enuf to the Pass Xono and steelhead, that unless you have the money it does seem hard to justify the expense.

I am going to listen to a sutherland and ARC PH-5 in the next couple of weeks - both are supposed to be very musical - so we will see what happens. I can if needed go back to the XONO, but I think I am looking for a little more sofistication.

Tim, I did have the ACT 2 in the system for about a month. Sounds fantastic. compared to the VTL 7.5 it just sounds different. the cj is a little more forward and direct, the bass is a little more obvious, however the VTL just sounds a bit more luxurious. the cj maybe sounds a little coarser in the upper mids, however on the other hand the VTL could be seen as a little less direct. the VTL has better ergonomics no doubt.
BTW, I am thinking about cj phono with SUT like the inbuilt jensen's or Bent audio Mu as well, but the controversy of SUT or no SUT is amazing.

At the time I was looking at changing due to a noise/gain issue between the high gain VTL and high gain cj. Now I have found fantastic attenuators from Endler, that has solved any issues I had with the 7.5.
Tim, I could quite easily live with both - both sound fantastic but different.

cheers Shane

Richard - I agree, Thor makes good stuff. I haven't heard the phonostage. Would you mind offering your experience with it? TIA

Richardmr, jikes the thor is expensive! n$US8490. that is a lot of aussie $.
Looks beautiful thou.
Gain information is conmflicting. specs say 55db MC which would not be enuf to drive my .3 xv-1s, but the printer friendly page has 78db. Big difference!

Jtimothya - I actually own the Thor linestage with phono MKII version, which is the newest. Through circumstance, I was able to get it at quite a reduced cost compared to retail. I believe retail is 13k. I did not have the opportunity to demo many products so I had to go on homework and faith. My personality is to always seek out the more obscure, and less written about, products. I like and pull for the little guys, as my entire system attests.

Sorry to include so many buzzwords but the Thor has terrific inner detail and a very wide soundstage. It, combined with the rest of my gear, is very non-fatigueing. Warm, with solid-state detail is how I would put it. It is locked in at 70db which gives off a small amount of tube rush but I attribute that to my 100db speakers. There is a lifetime guaranty aside from tubes and I don't plan to ever change it out. It's ROCK solid. Tapping on the top of the unit is like tapping on top of a 100 pound block of granite.

Downunder - As I mentioned above, the Thor is set at 70db with an added 8db of gain from the linestage section. The owner, Paul Marks, who is a great guy, says the stand-alone phonostage tops the linestage I own. Wow!