The best phono stage out there?

How much do you want to spend? The "best" doesn't really exist.

I love my Doshi Audio Alaap with my XV-1s. The last phono stage/preamp I'll every own. Well, unless all the tubes in the world suddenly disappear. ;-)

You are going to get 6 thousand different phono amps to read about from those who chime in.

If everyone writes in and says the Sutherland PhD is the best they have heard would you keep it?

I have had the Audio Note, EAR 324, PhD, Herron, & the ASR Exclusive and they all were/are excellent sounding. Each one had a different flavor of sound that was not necessarily better than the other. I kept the ASR because of it's battery powered abilities.

My vote is for the PhD. Keep and and enjoy it to the hilt.

I guess, there is no "best" out there. One prefers Transistor, the other one a Tube amplification. For each Design there are good and average Designs available. I guess endless average ones in general.
There is no other stage in the whole System where you can win or loose so much.
Anyway, I have a highly modified Lamm LP2 with very special Transformers and lots of selected better parts than stock and this one is by far the best unit I every heard.
Pretty useless for you I'm afraid, but a 2.Hand LP2 is easy to get and hard to beat, but depends on the rest of your System to bring the best out of it.

The Aesthetix Io Signature or the Io Eclipse are two additional candidates for consideration among the top competitive phono stages.

You really should list what your budget is. By saying the best, you are getting into some really expensive phono preamplifiers. (The ones I've listed below retail from about $5K up to about about $10K.) Also, do you want or require the phono preamp to run your cartridge in balance mode, hence do you want or need the tonearm cables to be terminated with XLRs? Also, you should state whether you can put up with tube rushing noise, (and the benefits of tubes), or if you wish to have solid state, (and lose the benefits of tubes). (I bring that up because the output of the Dynavector XV-1S is 0.3 mv, which is pretty low, and most tube phono stages will be stretched to their limits to provide the gain necessary for such a low output cartridge. Luckily you are not using a highend Allaerts with its 0.1 mv output - Ouch!!! FYI, I am not trying to frighten you out of using the Dynavector XV-1S, as I use it, (with my Basis 2001 and Vector M3 tonearm), and think it is an incredible cartridge, and possibly the last cartridge I'll ever own.)

Based on my experience and research, the choices I would recommend are:

ASR Basis Exclusive - A great phono preamp, that is actually two phono preamps, and has the capability of running even the lowest output cartridge. It is solid state by the way, and is set up to handle XLRs. (My favorite, btw.)

The Manley Steelhead - A hybrid phono preamp, that can handle most any cartridge, that still has the sound of tubes. Single ended only though.

The Einstein (The turntables choice) - Another great solid state phono preamp with lots of gain. (A friend uses the XLR version of this preamp with his Basis 2500 and the Dynavector XV-1S, btw.)

Lamm LP2 - A great tube preamp, but somewhat limited in its fleibility. Very musical. Single ended only.

Aesthetics IO Signature - A great tube phono preamp.

ARC PH-7 - A very nice tube preamp, but may not have quite enough gain, (it depends on your preamp's gain, as to whether it would work). Has the advantage of having a remote to adjust loading (and other features) on the fly.

Good Luck in your search.