VAC Owners:Outboard Phono Stage?

I have the Herron VTPH 2 and it outperforms the built in phono stage in my VAC Ren Mk III pre. Lower noise, better resolving and transparency etc. i had tube rush and noise in vac phono and a new tube fixed it so you should try that for sure. While the phono section was beat by the Herron i have yet to hear a linestage better than what VAC makes. It competes and beats preamps i have heard at twice the price. And Kevin and crew give best customer service you could hope for (as does Keith Herron who is as incredible as his products) .

Recently purchased a bat vkp10se without the superpak option but it does have the lundahl transformers. Running all balanced connections. If your into jazz or female vocals this unit has a magical midrange. Good luck.

VAC makes sweet sounding gear.

I'll probably be in a similar situation in the future. I've got the three 12AX7 + transformer MC phono in my VAC Renaissance III - it's an awesome phono stage; a solid link in my system right now. I think you're going to experience at least a bit of hiss with any tube MC phono stage, even with a step-up. Better tubes can help; obviously phono tubes must be critically selected.

In my system I'd used Sonic Frontiers Phono 1, Benz PP-1, PS Audio GCPH, and Rogue Stealth & Ares. Nice stages all, but the VAC's stage beats most of them handily, with the only real competition coming from the Ares after heavy tube rolling; the VAC sounded great with just its stock cheapo (but presumably well selected) chinese tubes. Gut feeling is that I'll certainly have to go beyond a $2K retail to match or possibly eclipse the VAC's phono, and perhaps a good bit further to make it worthwhile.

Wish they'd make their own outboard stage. That might be fun.

Podeschi,
I spoke with Keith and he actually wrote to Kevin to make sure the VTPH2 would be a good fit for my pre and cartridge! And Kevin wrote him back saying it would be great. Are these guys amazing, or what? True gentlemen (and geniuses).

Mulveling,
I know what you mean about making it a worthwhile upgrade. I figure with power cord, IC and the unit itself, I'm looking at over $5000 (with no way to sell what I'm replacing since it's built-in). Not a decision I will make lightly!

I spoke with someone (I'll keep their name to myself as a courtesy) at the VACtory who hinted that they are working on an outboard phono stage, but that it won't be coming out anytime soon and it'll probably cost around $12,000. No doubt it will be world class.

These new kids on the block, Zesto, which I heard at the California Audio Show, and it was superb... and the Manley Chinook, seem like viable options, but until I hear them in my system, it's hard to know if they can beat my current VAC sound by a wide enough margin to make it worthwhile.

Looking forward to more opinions and experiences from VAC owners.

Kevin told me at the 2011 RMAF that he was working on an all-out outboard phono. It didn't sound like it was going to be released in the very near future, but if you are patient that might be worth waiting for.

I take exception to Mulveling's comment that "you're going to experience at least a bit of hiss with any tube MC phono stage, even with a step-up." My own tube phono which uses a stepup feeding a D3a pentode and 5687 phono preamp is a very quiet phono preamp, considerably more so than the 5 or so solid state MC phonos I've tried. It all depends on the design and type of tube. You're not going to get that kind of black background with a 12AX7 for instance.