Hello,
I am currently using and enjoying my Shindo Masseto preamp, but there is always an eye to see what else is out there. Terribly promiscuous, I know. To be clear, I am not trying in any way to disparage Shindo preamps (they are great), but was curious whether there are any ex-Shindo preamp owners out here - I would love to get some insight into what convinced you to move on and to which other brand(s) you moved on to (and why). Thank you!
I have not heard Masseto but have heard the next two - Vosnee Romanee and Giscours. For a built in phono with preamp, the lower models are very good value for money in the used market, you need to spend much more on separates to upgrade.
Even with Giscours, at used price of 10 - 12k euro, a combined phono + pre is a good value for something that retains price.
If you want to move on from it depends on your sonic preference, what you listen to, etc. Shindo for me is very coloured. Yes it is big sounding and valvey, big stage. So there are like many choices for you to move on to depending on your direction.
Some SS preamps like Soulution, Spectral, CH, Dartzeel, Stern, for example are stellar with their own amps and can work very well with valve power amplifiers. I do know someone who preferred the Dartzeel pre to his Giscours into his Shindo power amp.
Other great valve preamps can be Thomas Mayer 10y.
Imo given your system and current TT set up, spending more for separates will be too unbalanced given the budget for the rest of your set up. So you should stay with something like Shindo or Ear which are good value for the pre-phono combo. I assume you don't spend much on quality LPs at the moment, and only if you do will get benefits of different higher priced electronics.
If you are just itching to change, you can take any of the recommendations on the thread with a good deal.