Sweet!
I am still breaking in the EMLs I got via the forum (and they were definitely a step up).
The best news is I got a Modwright PH 9/0 phono preamp and now listening to LPs, fed into the Stratus. The pre is brand new so it’s got some break-in time to come, but was really blown away last night listening to one of my favorite albums – Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch, in the new Blue Note reissue version (also have the Music Matters 45rpm) – through a pair of Dan Clark’s original Aeon Closed headphones. I have NEVER heard those headphones sound like that. When I get the Utopias repaired … can’t even imagine, or I can, but I don’t know if I can stand it, because this was drugs. (Even with low-level noise that can be fixed by proper grounding). People will always debate, but for me this forever confirms the validity of analog/tubes vs. digital/solid-state. I love my high-end Class D integrated (it can go head to head with those 10k DACs), but this was absolutely wild.