K & K phono pre compasison

Upon rereading my question, let me be more specific. First, apologies for the misspelling.

It appears that K and K has always received favorable comments. I know about the background with Art Audio.

Also, in terms of "value at the price point" there's no arguement about K and K being a no-brainer choice.

But how does it compare to Manley, Lamm, Rhea, etc.?

Does the fact that it's a kit, and Kevin's skill, make up for the thousands of bucks the others cost?

I would consider the new Fosgate as one option or the new Musical Design form John Hillig.

The Aesthetix, the Thore, and the LAMM are significantly better but .....$$$$

The odds that anyone has heard all of the top phono stages in a system that they are familiar with is small and they certainly did not hear them with YOUR ears. They will all sound different and it is likely that the more expensive ones will sound better but there is no guarantee that they will or that any improvement will be worth the cost. I just changed from a Musical Fidelity Kw phono to a Asr Basis Exclusive, both of which were listed in Stereophile Class A at the same time. The Basis is considerably better to my ears and my friends ears, as it should be at the difference in cost. But I paid less than 30% of current retail for a used one. My advice is to try to listen to as many as you can and when you find one you like get it and don't worry about whether there is a better one or not. And even if they are "better" you may not like them as well.