its below your budge, but you may want to try the zerozone EAR clone, or the Zerozone Marantz 7 phono stage clone. For MM carts. To beat them you need to get into the 1600 to 2000 range for a Chinook.
MM phono preamp upgrade for $1000?
I have a VPI Prime 3D with a Nagaoka mp 300 MM cartridge. I’m currently using a Lounge Audio LCR mk III preamp that doesn’t sound bad but I’m hoping to upgrade. My LCR is an early version so Lounge Audio tells me they can’t do the silver/gold upgrades on it. I have a budget of about $1000. What MM only preamps would you recommend I look into at that price point new or used.