Best Phono You've Heard Under $2200

@avanti1960  there's no doubt the Sutherland is good. Maybe even great. I guess it's not exciting for what ever reason. Sounds dumb I agree. It's nothing to look at and by all accounts sounds like nothing. I can get one used so I'm debating it. If it doesn't excite me I can sell for what I bought for.

my OCD is in overdrive haha

For under $2200, the Sutherland Insight with LPS is excellent and you'll have a few bucks left over for records. Extremely quiet and adjustable in case you decide to go for a MC cartridge. No extra circuitry, no on/off switch. Ron is a very nice, patient guy and not salesy at all. I asked him once about upgrading and he told me to just enjoy the Insight. He was very big on the LPS though that was recently offered as an option. It exists in a much more expensive model (I think the DUO).

All he does is phono stages. That counts for something.

Some great choices here. I'm thinking about the Modwright PH9.0x. Does anyone have any experience with this one in relation to the others mentioned? I do own one of Dan's modded SACD players and love it.

Yeah so I did a thing. 20/20 is incoming. To be honest I'm not as excited as I want to be about it but the rave reviews  and the feverish fanboy-ism has me in. Found one for a crazy good price so....in a few days I hope I'll be drinking the Kool Aid too.

Audio Research PH7

Excellent ARC sound that can be had for under $2000

I have climbed the ARC Phono ladder to the REF Phono 2SE. The PH7 and PH8 are both great values.

I had a Rogue Ares Magnum for a short time and no disrespect, but it could not compete.