thoughts on adding phonostage

The phono pre is critical and well worthy of an upgrade, and you can use any brand that you think aligns best with your tastes/goals/system.  If you share what specific improvements you’re looking for and what sound characteristics are most important to you along with budget and if you’re looking for new or used you’ll get good recommendations here.  You might also post this in the Analog section to maybe get some more focused responses.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

While I don't know the rogue, in general, a phono stage can make a significant difference. Re pairing, you can go with any brand you like. In my limited experience, stepping up in price has lead to step up in performance. I would think that PS investment = cartridge investment as a reasonable first approximation. With Rogue at around $3.5K, I would consider the built-in PS portion maybe at the $500-level. With MC you may also consider the step up transformer to MM stage approach. That is what I currently do (Rega Naia with Aphelion2 to Zesto SUT to EAT eglow petite). My PS is due for an upgrade for sure just don't know what to get. I plan to go to Vienna in June to get a broad sampling and ideas.

Thank you . System is just about broken in 50hours. I do really love the warmth of the tube amp. its strictly a vinyl set up, I'd like to add a little more clarity to hear the nuances of the vinyl and some dynamic drive/power. I've read that if I go with a tube phono I may sound too warm and soft.  I need to add the MC cart first since the rogue amp works for both MM/MC.  I actually would love to bargain hunt and buy something used i may not necessarily be able to purchase new.