I haven't owned a Rhea, but have heard one in my system. It"s a nice phone stage sound wise. At the time I had a BAT VKP10SE with Super Pak. Another nice phono stage. I ended up keeping the BAT. For the money used, this is a great phono stage, hits everything right, is very very quiet, fully balanced (best is to use XLR terminated phono interconnects from your table).
I have not heard the Pass phono stages, they get great reviews, you might should check these out. Ditto the Allnic. I have a friend who went from a Io Eclipse to the Allinic and never looked back.
I'm running a Lyra Skala with a Nagra VPS/VFS. It's a lovely combo, more transparent and just right sounding. Wonderful sound staging and dimensionally beautiful. If you want to stay with a tube phono, that's quiet, you should check this out with your Lyra...It's not balanced. Does have xlr outs for convenience. I will say I was a all balanced guy until I heard the Nagra VPS in my all BAT/all balanced setup. The Nagra new is just over your budget..used will be a bit below...
Lot's of choices here. I bet it's a tough call !
I have not heard the Pass phono stages, they get great reviews, you might should check these out. Ditto the Allnic. I have a friend who went from a Io Eclipse to the Allinic and never looked back.
I'm running a Lyra Skala with a Nagra VPS/VFS. It's a lovely combo, more transparent and just right sounding. Wonderful sound staging and dimensionally beautiful. If you want to stay with a tube phono, that's quiet, you should check this out with your Lyra...It's not balanced. Does have xlr outs for convenience. I will say I was a all balanced guy until I heard the Nagra VPS in my all BAT/all balanced setup. The Nagra new is just over your budget..used will be a bit below...
Lot's of choices here. I bet it's a tough call !