I went down both paths: I had Dave Slagle make me a copper EMIA SUT matched to the specs of my preamp, and I had a Sunvallley Audio SV-EQ1616D "phono equalizer" as they call it. I liked both. However, the phono stage allowed me to fine tune capacitance and load, creating a perfect bridge between my cartridge (Benz Micro SNL Ebony at that time) and my Pre (Ed Shilling’s "The Truth"); also in comparison, the SUT (arguably one of the very best), brought the music more forward and overall added some Technicolor "bombast". So I kept the Sunvalley, until I bought a SUPRATEK Grange, which comes with a fabulous phono stage built in (MC only!). If I were you, I would certainly give the Sunvalley a serious listening.