VAC Owners:Outboard Phono Stage?

I have the VAC phono stage in my VAC Ren III as mentioned -- super handing with variable loading, one MC and one MM input. It is well worth the price of admission for convenience (even as a back up to a stand alone pre). It has a meaty, substantial sound to it. Not as fast and transparent as $4-6+k stages like the Herron, but easily beats 1-3k stages. I will say the performance of the VAC linestage is incredible, but the phono section is not as incredible. No matter how you go (phono or no phono), I highly recommend the VAC preamp. In my system it EASILY competes with preamps that cost twice as much. It is holographic, open, detailed, extended, natural, harmonically accurate....a guitar sounds like a guitar....a voice sounds like a voice. Very round and dimensional presentation -- not flat at all.

Alonski,
I had the Ortofon Kontrapunkt c which was the predecessor to your Bronze. Agree with your assessments of its qualities. Such a beautifully clean midrange, with non-abrasive top end and lots of slam on the bottom! Lovely balance. Took me a while to find an appropriate upgrade from that cart - I ended up at the Koetsu Plantinums. I easily preferred the Kontra c to the Benz Ref 3, Benz Wood M2, and Ortofon Jubilee. The Jubilee was brighter and lacked that lovely slam you mention - plus, I didn't find it to be any more resolving (unless you're one of those that equates brightness with detail). That lineup of Benzes (1 series old) has a nice musical balance, but loses out badly versus the Ortofons on technical merits (noise floor, graininess, resolution). The treble & upper mids seemed splashy/grainy versus the Ortofons.

It's harder to pick sides versus the MC Windfeld; the latter is easily more resolving, has tighter/faster bass, and a better noise floor. Still, the Windfeld just had too much energy up top for me, and was harder sounding and less musical than the Kontra c (and presumably the Bronze). You could say "analytical". I ended up unsatisfied, and that's when a went to Koetsu - which I feel offers the best of both worlds. Still, I'm sorry that I ever sold my Kontra c - awesome cart, and I'm sure the Bronze is even better. Might be tempted to try one someday!

Also, I liked the Kontras loaded at around 50 ohms (this was in the days before my VAC Ren III; had the Sonic Frontiers Phono 1). 100 ohms will certainly sound great, but 50 worked better for me.

Mulveling and Alonski,

Have you guys checked out the Miyajima Kansui? Like the Bronze and Kontra C, it uses an aluminum cantilever with an advanced stylus shape, in this case Shibata. The Kansui has great slam and a liquid, dimensional midrange you can walk through.HF extension and is very good if not state of the art. It's extremely natural sounding and reminds me of a more refined version of the SPU Royal GMII, which also uses the Replicant 100 (very similar to the FG 80 of the C) on aluminum. Something about that combo is very satisfying. I actually prefer the Kansui to the A90, which is itself terrific but has a very different presentation. Might be up your allies....

Bill,
I've read a lot on the Miyajima and have been looking forward to hearing it somewhere... I'm a big fan of tiny well-shaped styli that track the grooves at a much deeper level than most and extract information from LPs very familiar to us that we never knew was there! My Carneigie One does that, as does the Cadenza Bronze, but the reports about the Kansui are so positive and compelling... This hobby of ours seems insane to others, and it's conversations like these that makes me think they may be right! What can I say? Does a 5% improvement in sound merit spending thousands of bucks? It does if it makes me happy... and it does.

I've not compared tons of phono stages but I will say that when I owned a Ren Mk2, the internal MC phono easily beat the Rhea and Rhea Sig and was very similar to the Steelhead. However, you may want to consider an active gain stage phono or head amp, instead of an SUT. IME, SUTs are VERY sensitive to loading and cables. I found that the ZYX Artisan phono stage was VERY close to a Doshi Alaap phono stage and that the ZYX head amp also did a fantastic job, both w ZYX carts. FWIW, I've always thought that loading was more an issue w MC carts, and that for MMs, 47K was a de-facto standard. I could be wrong; its happened once or twice ;-)