3k budget for Turntable and Phono Noob- do I need external power supplies?

I had Music Hall, it sounded ok but the few things that could break did break on it within a year

Just take the deal with the X2B and be done with it. 

@audiocanada

I listen mostly to CDs on a highend Neodio Origine S2 CD player, largely because their is little on vinyl of the genre I largely prefer to listen to.However, I recently decided that I wanted a turntable to be able to play albums that have been sitting around for years, and to be able to make occasional vinyl purchases if I want to. I wanted a table that would suit that along with being easy to set up and maintain. I’ll second @dynacohum ’s suggestion on the Music Hall Stealth as I went with that. It appears well built, set-up is as easy as they describe, and, aside from the included pre-mounted Ortofon 2M Blue there is availability of other pre-mounted cartridges from Ortofon, Audio Technica, Nagaoka, or you can get a blank S mount headshell and have other options of cartridges to mount when the time arrives. I did replace the supplied rubber mat which is a bit sticky so it can attract dust with a Herbies Way Excellent 2. I also purchased a Stack Audio Serene Stabilizer (record weight). For a phono preamp I went with a Clearaudio Smart Phono 2. Sounds just fine to me. To the extent that you put value on professional reviews there are a few on the Stealth that you can checkout if interested. Go luck with whatever path you go down.

@lewm 

All modern phono cartridges can run in balanced mode. The TT has nothing to do with it. Any tonearm with 4 leads out can be wired to an XLR. 

Shouldn't that be two XLRs?

Haha. Yes. My more egregious omission was to mention that there’s no appreciable benefit unless your phono stage and downstream equipment are also true balanced devices.