Phono stages belong to which tier?

JJ2482,

The Lamm with Westerm Electric NOS 417's is splendid offering resolution and a touch of warmth. Paired with the LL2 it soars and together they make a very listenable top tier combination. The lack of adjustment and limited gain in the MC section, perhaps keep it from being a free standing reference phono stage.

The Allnic's transformer coupling provide intense image density, which excells every other pre-amp I have owned. It's excellent resolution will not have have you looking elsewhere, and it's bass attack is also amoung the best I have heard. The sound stage while large is not enormous like the Aesthetix IO. Very low noise, ultra quiet and low distortion allow you to play music louder when you choose to.

Flexibility is tops, balanced or single ended, multiple loading adjustments, etc. also... allowing 4 turntables switchable from the front panel or remote control, comes with NOS tubes. It is a true reference phono stage.

Aoliviero,
I have owned the Lamm, Steelhead, ASR, Einstein, Jadis, Thor, Joule, PH7,
Doshi Alaap, BAT (fully loaded)....and find the Wavestream to be the most
musically satisfying.

Tom Evans would probably be here as well like the Groove X or the SRX version.

I'm been running the Wavestream Kinetics phono stage and preamp for over a year and IMHO it is excellent. I ran a latest (at the time) Aesthetix Callisto and Io Signature each with two power supplies, NOS tubes, before changing to the Wavestream. I listen to mainly jazz, classical and a lot of female vocals. The Wavestream and the Aesthetix had more than enough gain for my moving coil. After a week home demo with the Wavestream in my system I like it better. I thought my Aesthetix gear was great but it had a slightly euphoric presentation and was a little plumier in the upper bass than the Wavestream combo. The Wavestream seemed slightly more netural and more like live music I hear on the weekends. There's no question that Jim White's Aesthetix products are wonderfull and you may like these better than Wavestream's combo. You can't go wrong with either. I think that both are in top 5 phono stages.

So would it be safe to say these are in the top tier?
Aesthetix io
Alaap MKII
Allnic h3000
Audio Research Ph7
ASR Exclusive
Atma-sphere mp-1
Essential 3160
Einstein Balanced
Lyra 4.2p se
Manley Steelhead
Wavestream Kinetics
Zanden 1200