I know that a few members here own one of the above preamps. I would like to know what they upgraded from and why (if they know). Of course I would like to know if anyone has compared any of the above to my current unit, a Herron VTSP-2a line stage.

I am familiar with another contender an EAR 868PL as I have owned two of them (+ a line version only). I did not run them with my EAR 516 and Quad ESL 57s, however.

Can I get the sort of musicality that I have with my Herron VTSP-2A + an onboard MM/MC-stage with a Crayon, Hovland or Croft preamp?

I recently had an EAR 802 (onboard MM) in my system but it did nothing good in my set-up and receiving the Herron was something of a revelation.

I would like the luxury of a one box solution. So what do they sound like?