I'll share my experience for what it's worth. When i first bought a Manley Steelhead back in around 2006, I was disappointed with its sound- i rolled tubes (and ultimately settled on NOS Teles and some old Raytheons), but the phono stage, which had the capability of being run 'straight in' still didn't sound as good as I expected. Although the frequency extremes were well wrought and the unit had a non-tubular, seemingly accurate sound, it lacked life and a fleshed out quality. By adding a line stage (a Lamm L2, which is not exactly a 'warm' sounding preamp- some have complained that it is a little analytical sounding), the combination had far more palpability and dimension. I kept the Steelhead for a long time running through this line stage. Only when the Lamm line stage started to act up- and I was forced to use the Steelhead 'straight in' again temporarily, did I finally decide to move on and change the phono stage. Now, that may reveal something about the nature of the Steelhead, its active output/volume control set up, or just that I liked the 'added coloration' of two pieces of equipment, rather than one. (I am one of those few who runs only a single source- vinyl). I have an inexpensive passive volume control box that i have not tried with my new phono stage, and now that the Lamm has been fixed, i'm back to using two components in the chain before the amps.
