VAC Owners:Outboard Phono Stage?

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 ;-)

Another vote for K&K maxxed out.

Mulveling and Swampwalker,
Thank you both for sharing your experiences and impressions.

So many cartridge loading possibilities and tweaks... and, of course, all the sincere recommendations we get from fellow audiophiles are great but will ultimately be subject to the reality of hearing the difference in our own systems. Which once again, makes the Steelhead appealing because of the handy remote control which offers us immediate A/B comparisons from our sweet spot!

Alas, as we go up the ladder of phono stages (a ladder that seems covered in oil at times), some really cool features do emerge, making a remote control even more appealing. Like the new ARC that has a number of RIAA curves to choose from when listening to DG, Columbia and Decca classical recordings of yesteryear, before universal adherence to the RIAA standard was fully adopted. It seems like all the early DG albums I have that never sounded quite right just need the correct RIAA curve applied to them and they spring to life!

Has anyone on this thread experienced that?

Podeschi,

I agree about the VAC line stage being amazing. I found your impressions of the phono stage helpful, especially the price point references, which align with the units I've chosen to compare to VAC's built in stage. I think I'm on the right track. Now it's just a matter of auditioning the units at home.

Maineiac,
Your recommendations are always good. I'll look into the K&K Maxed Out as well...