It is indeed a classic and has a wonderful tube sound. Noise floor is non-existent and it has plenty of gain. For the money I personally don’t think you can do better for a tube phono stage. I used to have the dual deluxe MM/MC version but (unfortunately) sold that and now have just the MM version.
But you asked about also against modern phono stages. I also have as my main phono stage a Manley Steelhead and I still think it sounds great compared to that one. Another option would be a Bellari, made in the US phono stage with a single 12ax7.