Did I miss it or did someone leave Counterpoint off this list? The SA-9 is as hard to find as sasquatch. The phono section built into the SA-5.1 will simply smoke most of what is out there (not to mention the killer line stage).
In this day of line stages and phono stages being marketed as "all tube" or "pure tube" when in fact the only tubes they have are the ones in the line stage or phono stage, the Counterpoint SA-5.1 is the real deal. The SA-5.1 has not only a tube rectifier, but it also has extensive vacuum tube voltage regulation (a total of 4 tubes for the power supply). There is something about the sound of pure tube power supplies vice SS power supplies. Tube power supplies sound more alive and thus more real.