Any recomendation fro balanced phono stage?

I use Ayre....extremely good with excellent service if needed (never needed any except for upgrade mods).

Run away from  Aesthetics IO I have one was nothing but trouble sent it in for upgrade paid 6k and it has never worked.  Came back with a note might be a little noisey, thing sucks it is so noisy I can't believe they even sent it back that way, worse than when I sent it in for the upgrade.   I called them and they do not stand behind there work offered no solution.  Love there pre amp so I bought the phono and mono-blocks the mono-blocks continually shut down for no reason no error or anything.  Poor programming.    Other than the pre the rest of the line is flaky.  

Check out the Hagerman Trumpet. It is a fully balanced tube phono stage and can be ordered with balanced output for under $2k, which is a bargain. This is one well-designed and seriously good phono stage - fast, neutral, detailed, and extremely quiet. Hagerman's web site is quite informative.
www.hagtech.com

Jfech,
Would you pleas elaborate on differences between P10se , Rhea and IO?

I've had owned all the BAT's p5, p10 and now p10se. Also tried the Aesthetix Rhea. I have a friend with a Io. Can't go wrong with any of these. Io at the top, P10se and Rhea do some different things well...

As Nar com states a BAT vkp10 is a great unit (73 db gain) that will allow you to use a low output cartridge also.

You can find a good deal on BAT VKP10.
Even P5 will work fine with Glider.

2- 3k is about right

Do you have a budget or is it cost no object? New or used or does it matter? I hear the Boulder unit is nice if you have $20,000 or so to spend. There are very fine choices at lower price points but it is kind of fruitless to make suggestions unless we know your budget.

Pass Labs' current model is the Xono with signal path electronics in one box and power supply in another. It's got some favorable reviews and is quite flexible in loading and gain settings. The prior model is the Aleph Ono, which is a one box design. Much cheaper used. Reviewers say they can hear a difference between the two, though. Both have balanced and unbalanced output connections. Good luck.

Atma-sphere MP-3. It is a line stage AND phono, with ONLY balanced in/outs (except for the two tape loops which are single ended RCA's).

Aesthetics IO