I do not know what Dievoyager's exact experience has been, but I too have tried many phono stages and still prefer the PH3 in the under $5,000 new list range. I have not found a solid state phone stage that offers what the tube stage does for vinyl. There are some tube phono stages out there which are better than the PH3, but all of them are quite a bit more expensive. Given that you can find a used PH3 for less than $1,000 and that you can upgrade it rather easily, either by ARC - which is probably more expensive than it should be- or by an experienced and qualified technician and/or yourself, it really does seem the way to go unless you have $5,000 or more to spend, want to spend it and have a system which justifies the better phone stage. Good luck.