I had Ned Clayton Cinemag 1254s for a while and it was pretty close to my Hashimoto HM-7s. The 1254s are a couple of steps down from Bob's SKY.
Now I'm running some James Audio SUTs that I got for half the price of the Hashimotos and I'd be hard pressed to find a significant difference.
I think over the $500 range for SUTs and the diminishing returns start. I go for gain and how it fits with my phono stage; you don't want to overload it. You can also try to match the cart load, but I don't really pay attention to all that.
Hum is a matter of placement and sometimes cables for me.
There's a good thread on SHF on SUTs under a $1000.
Hard to believe that Rodgers doesn't use some better SUTs or maybe proprietary ones, then again my Modwright uses inexpensive Lundahls mainly for the low gain and to hold costs down.