Mcintosh MA9000 Phono Stage

In days of yore, there were some really fabulous full function preamplifiers, both tube and solid state. Seems that type may be coming back into vogue, but you could also go vintage, which in this case means going back to the 1990s, so still "modern" in the design sense. Klyne, Luxman, Mac, etc.  Also consider the Atma-sphere MP3 in your price range.  MP1 if you want to go all out.  Pass stuff is excellent too.

There is no benefit per se to having an outboard phono stage. What I mean is that the phono section in your Mac should be judged for what it is, not for whether it is outboard or onboard. I have no idea of the performance of the phono section of your Mac or how it stacks up to other candidates, but having the phono and linestages on the same chassis does have the advantage that you do not have the signal traversing an output connection, an interconnect, and an input connection, in order to get from the phono to the linestage. These links in the chain inevitably degrade performance, no matter how miniscule that effect may be. Moreover, when designers have to create a stand alone phono stage, they have to include an output circuit to properly drive the downstream linestage. When the phono and line stages are on the same chassis, the connection can be vastly simplified by a good engineer. This potentially confers another sonic advantage to an all in one unit. So, think twice before you leap. Or maybe consider stepping up to a better full function preamplifier.