Stand out phono stages

a friend just swapped his battriaa for a Audion Premier phono stage. Half the price but twice the sound

I would like to nominate the Herron Audio VTPH-2. Excellent in every way that I can mention.

I would definitely put the Joule Electra OPS-4ME on this list. One of THE best (Ok,i know...i'm biased because I have one...but it really does sound superlative...honest!)

I'll 2nd the Herron VTPH-2 with vintage Telefunken tubes. Cannot be beat

Nolitan asked about the Accuphase C-27.

I have had this in my system for several months now, It relaced an Aesthetix IO-Sig. It is a wonderful phono stage, zero noise, dynamic, variable impedance settings for 3 inputs and built like a tank, but with very elegant case work. It is expensive no doubt, but many years of Accuphase knowledge culminate in a beautiful sound. It was a significant improvement over my IO. Takes about 500 hours to open up, best with its own power cord rather than aftermarkets in my rig. I also have an Accuphase c-17 head amp, which is a very rare beast and by far the best head amp I have ever heard. I was concerned that the C-27 would not be as good as my C-17 into the IO, but I found the C-27 to be superior to that combo. I would recommend BTW the C_17, if you could ever find one. No issue going from tube to SS - blacker background and better microdynamics, bit less bloom of course - your choice....

Steve