New phono stage: valve or solid state?
Hi am a long time Croft fan (and customer) since 1989.
I am in the process of having my Croft Micro 25R upgraded to Micro 25RS Line-only. This means I will lose the built-in phono stage and I will need a new, external one.
Logically, I am considering a Croft RIAA RS, which unfortunately I am not able to audition (as I live in Greece, and it's not easy to find such a model without ordering it). I have two concerns with the Croft phono stage: a) it accepts only high output cartridges, e.g. MM/MI/HOMC and b) has no settings (gain, loading, etc.) at all for matching it to the cartridge at hand. I currently have a Cartridge Man Music Maker III (high output moving iron), but what happens if I decide to go for a low output MC? I have been thinking of the following: Benz Micro Wood SL, Shelter 501 MkIII and Lyra Delos. This means I would need a SUT upstream the Croft RIAA, which perplexes things.
Alternatively, I have auditioned an ASR Mini Basis Exclusive (German solid state phono stage), which sounded very nice to me and is quite flexible, as it can accommodate both MM and MC, just by flipping some internal switches to set gain, loading, etc. But I have not been able to put the ASR against a Croft RIAA phono stage.
So, comments/ideas, please? Should I go for the valve or the solid state phono stage? Any other phono stage alternatives (models) perhaps, of the same of better sound quality?
Thanks in advance!
Panos
System1: Lenco L75 with custom plinth, SLAT, sph bearing, SG4 external power supply + Alfred Bokrand AB-309 tonearm + Denon DL103R (aluminum body) + Well Tempered 12" tonearm clone + Denon DL103R (wooden body), ASR Mini Basis Exclusive HV, Marantz CD6005, LAB12 DAC1 SE+, Hattor BIG passive + active pre, Lab12 Suono power amp, Falcon LS3/5a Gold Badge, LAB12 Gordian, Belden 8428, Black Cat Red Level Triode, LAB12 Knack MkII
System 2: Roksan Xerxes original (HiFi Inspire plinth) with Maxon ReMax motor + Audiomods Series6 + Ortofon Cadenza Black microridge retipped, ASR Mini Basis Exclusive, Marantz CD6003, Croft Micro25R + Series7R monoblocks (110W/ea), Harbeth SHL5 Plus 40th Anniv.
System 3: Marantz CD6003, Croft SuperMicroII ('R' spec by Croft, Tesla E83CC in phono)+ Series7, Snell Type EII (with bypass caps, new internal wiring, WBT nextgen 0703Cu), Mark Grant HDX1, Atlas Hyper 3.0