Your Ultimate Phono Preamp: Which One Would You Choose?

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2698116

Seems similar to the Parks Audio Puffin.

i would agree about the cat legend phono if you have a conventional cartridge,but the ds audio optical system-phono stage($3500) and cart($2500) of course run into my cat line stage gives the cat phono/line lyra atlas or vdh colabri a run for the money.

I've had the Rogue Audio Ares tube phono amp for years and loved it.  You can really dial in the exact settings for your cart.  But a couple of days I sent it off to have it upgraded to the Ares II Magnum.  Can't wait to year the improvement I've read about.  Nick Fitzsimmons at Rogue even sent me a prepaid (by me) UPS label from an outfit they use called Pirate Ship.  Saved me about 40% on the insured cost of sending the amp back to them.

My very long term experiences had with Phonostages, allows me to say assuredly that ' Probably' is the best word to use in conjunction with 'end game Phonostage'.

I myself like to think the experiences had and learning as the outcome, has led me to Phonostages that reiterate the search is now lesser of a requirement and the Phonostages in use are foreseen to have Longevity in their role. 

Aesthetix Io is hard to beat, especially the Eclipse version. I was lucky to find a basic version for a fair price used, twenty years ago, and liked it so well that I upgraded to Eclipse and two power supplies. This was costly, but I have no regret. My version has aux as well as phono input, and volume control, so it can be used as a stand alone preamp, for analog plus a digital source (sounding very good). It has a personality however. The better the tubes, the better the sound. If you use costly NOS tubes - especially - it needs to be shut down when not in use, and it takes half an hour or so to warm up when you turn it on. It is a pure tube solution, and you need a fairly robust output from the cartridge to avoid background tube noise. Mine is 0,56mV, but I’ve seen claims that it works fine with less output also. And you need space for two - or three - full size boxes.

If you cant find (or afford) an Io, consider a Rhea, as a first step. If you like that sort of sound, you can later trade it for an Io.