Valve phono stage

@infection regarding the shootout with the aesthetix, zesto and Herron speakers were tannoy yorkminsters amps were Sophia 845-05 preamp was vacuum state. 
Aesthitix was darker without as much detail
zesto was decent but a back row presentation 
herron was just good music with proper staging

cabling was a mix of xlo cardas and Neotec
aesthetix had a Jim mcshane premuim tube set which is supposed to be the best you can do with those. 
I would rate them 
Herron 9.5
zesto 8.5
aesthetix 7

And it was a rhea signature 

Have a BAT VKP10 SE. My cart is 1.7 mv and while it occasionally sends some noise through at high volumes it really lays down the lumber. Authoritative bass and sweet to boot. Recently, (last night} ran in some Amperex PQ White label 6922s and the noise floor really dropped. Balanced all the way. Can you tell I like it?
Not to denigrate single ended stuff because it can be really great but if you're digging for low noise balanced does have some advantages. I got some good advice as the system was being assembled and went balanced. Good luck.

@lewm  - is the Aesthetix Io balanced - sorry for late answer, I only saw your question now. Quote from the manual p 8:
"The phono stage contains three main amplification sections and an output buffer section. The first section is a high gain, low noise, zero feedback single ended amplifier composed of two low-noise 12AX7 vacuum tubes. This then feeds a high gain, low noise differential amplifier (two 12AX7 vacuum tubes) which amplifies the signal and produces a complementary minus phase signal. Thus, the unit is balanced from the second amplification section through the output. The signal is then applied to the third amplification section which is nearly identical to the second. It also contains two 12AX7 vacuum tubes. The filter is next in the signal path, a purely passive design with the highest grade capacitors and non-inductive wirewound resistors throughout. Lastly, the signal is buffered and sent to the output jacks in balanced form." So well, it is mostly balanced but not fully, since the first gain stage is single ended. Whatever the case it sounds great. I know Raul doesn't like tubes in phono stages and I recognize the problems, but to my ears, this is the best choice.

I like tubes. More musical. Have a BAT VKP 10SE with Supercaps and it rocks.