Phonostage Recommendations for my PS Audio + Thiel setup

I have not heard the new PS Audio phono stage but it is making big claims. As you already have their other amps, it would be remiss not to entertain a look. They do a trade-in on gear and a no quibble 30 day free shipping trial for US customers.  Plus they are nice people.

I agree. Given all the PS Audio gear, which you presumably enjoy, why not stick with them?

I'm not necessarily opposed to the new PS Audio Phonostage. I was actually talking to the people at PS Audio about beta testing the new phonostage. I decided to pass and now I am rethinking that decision. Part of the reason I passed is that I was hoping to buy something used, which won't be possible with the new PS Audio Stellar Phono. I also had a dealer suggest to me that with my Thiel Speakers I would want more tubes in my setup and he said the phono would be a good place to do that. Im not opposed to tubes either, in fact I think it might be fun to play with if it makes sense and sounds good.

Here is a little background on how I picked and got my system, especially being from somewhere that provides no opportunity to demo hifi gear. This is my first high end system. Prior to purchasing my PS Audio gear, I did a lot of traveling and listening. I toured their factory and did a listening session in their listening room. I drooled over their equipment but was very aware that it was out of my price range.  I also demoed equipment at 3 or 4 retail audio shops in Colorado. I settled on a pair of Thiel 3.7 speakers and a friend I met here on Audiogon who owned the same speakers let me hear his PS Audio system in Raleigh, NC. I thought they paired well together very nicely and started looking for used PS Audio gear. I ultimately found a dealer selling new PS Audio gear at 40% off of MSRP(is this normal in the hifi world? i get the sense that it is not unusual) which put it very much in the price range I was willing to spend. PS Audio has recently announced that they are going factory direct with their sales (probably bc their dealers kept selling at such steep discounts?) I love my PS Audio gear and I love the people over at PS Audio. They are amazing and friendly people. That being said I am by no means a blindly loyal fan boy. I am happy to entertain other suggestions if they make sense and I absolutely think I will be doing an in house demo with the new Stellar phono.

It is difficult for me to travel at the moment with 3 kids at home between 6 months and 6 years so I am relying heavily on reviews and recommendations for a phono. I have called a few dealers to pick their brains and educate myself and now I am turning to the forums. Like I said before I'm not opposed to buying the PS Audio Stellar new but that would be the absolute high limit on what I could spend, and I would prefer to spend less. 

Its too bad $2500 is your absolute max. Because the Herron VTPH-2A, one of the best phono stages around regardless of price, is not a lot more. Oh well.

Did the PSA phonostages ever make it out to the dealer network?  If so, the dealers are all liquidating their PSA stock over the next month.  I was getting very good deals (~60% of retail) from https://www.highperformancestereo.com/ before the liquidation, and suspect they're selling stuff even cheaper now that The Purge is happening.

That said, I did try PSA's old gcph phono stage a number of years back and hope that they did not use it to voice the new one.  It was very disappointing and was handily outperformed by a Jasmine unit. 

Still enjoying my PS Audio PerfectWave DAC MKII, btw.