Best tube-based phono stage?

My friend is thinking about buying a Pro-Ject debut III turntable with USB, so he can get his rare vinyl cuts into iTunes. This deck comes with an Ortofon OM5e cart. Does that help? Has anyone got any experience porting vinyl into iTunes?
He mentioned that if he liked the Project deck, he'd probably upgrade in the future and pair that upgraded deck with a phono stage; he mentioned Jolida and Project phono stages.

A budget would help. At under $1000 and MM only, I liked the Quicksilver.

At near $4k, it seems that the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 has been very well reviewed.

Need more info. Is there a budget? Does he have a moving magnet or moving coil cartridge (or both)? What other equipment will he be using it with? What kind of sound is he looking for?

The more you can provide the more specific other folks here can be on their recommendations.

I would say that the Aesthetix Io Eclipse has to be among the very best, if it is not the best.

I'll try to pry some more info out of him, thanks.