best phono stage under 10k

I've had my steelhead for about 12 years.  It's an amazing product.  I've never had a desire to try anything else.  It destroyed the BAT, Sim, audio research units of the day I tried and cast off for the manley.  BTW, it sounds a lot better as a phone pre only, ie running into a preamp.  It also sounds best running my Benz ebony LP-S into the MM input. 

@car123 
Is it enough gain in the mm input?  Your Benz is quite low input. If it is, it would maybe make sense since your bypassing the first stage. If I am remembering correctly,  there’s step up’s at the input.

If I am remembering correctly,  there’s step up’s at the input.

The Steelhead employs a solid state input section for the phono section so no transformers.

@atmasphere 
i got this off a Stereophile review:

In MC mode, the switch controls a "variable-load auto tranny" (more Manley lingo), which is the Steel-head transformer/autoformer that gives the preamp its name. The switch controls five taps on the proprietary "dual-primary, bifilar wound, high-bandwidth, low-resistance, and multiple-shielded nickel-core step-up autoformer," which allows you to choose among 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 ohm settings.

That's news to me! Now I'm wondering if there is more than one version.