Your Ultimate Phono Preamp: Which One Would You Choose?

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.

The following is a review I have very recently read on comparisons of Phonostages costing between $2K and $30K. The reviewer is seemingly very confident in their assessment of he closeness of the performances in relation to the vast separation between the purchase values.

Even though I don't have experiences of these models in any guise used, there is nothing new here to me. I have experienced very well thought out design and component matched Phon's costing much much less than more expensive models in A/B Comparison. My assessment being the Phon' produced as above by a competent EE, will stand out above numerous Phon's met costing much more. It looks like this reviewr has stumbled on such a experience.

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Since I am used to listening to LPs played back via solid-state equipment (Jeff Rowland, Pass Labs, and more recently CH Precision) the Lejonklou suits me perfectly. The Entity has clearly been tweaked so carefully that it simply has no sins of commission. While it is even-handed and superimposes no character of its own it is also highly rhythmic, expressive, and articulate. Add to that its immense transparency and its free-flowing and highly refined delivery on a level that I have so far only heard from the Jeff Rowland Cadence and the CH Precision P1 and this starts to look like something of a bargain. The Entity may well be the phono stage to beat in its price range.
Postscript June 2021
The Entity has been updated to 1.1 version. Having heard the new model in comparison with a couple of other preamps but not its predecessor, I was impressed to find it still has superlative transparency, low-level detailing, treble air, and refinement but now coupled with massively improved solidity, robustness, and dynamic slam. In its latest guise priced at 1.875 euros, it comes highly recommended.