Phono stages belong to which tier?

Those of you judging the Rhea,are you using the latest "S" version in your comparisons? Just trying to figure how to weigh your opinions ,as the latest version is supposed to be significantly better than the non "S".

I am reluctant to "rate" any particular product -- a lot depends on taste, system matching, etc. So, I will submit some names of phonostages that sounded really good in a particular system I heard.

I own, and really like the Viva Fono. Music through this phono stage is very vivid and harmonically dense. Like most good tube-based phonostages, notes seem to bloom into space and then decay naturally (no artificial and mechanical sounding "edge").

The better Audionote (uk) preamps, like the M-9, and separate phono stages (M-10) are very good. For solid state, I've heard a system with the Connoisseur phono stage that sounded very good -- dynamic and lively without being unduly edgy or grainy sounding.

These are all approaching "crazy" expensive, but they do deliver the goods.

Nice to see all the recomendations for Whest ;)

Take a listen to the VAS 1 pre-amp. As all have commented, any evaluation must be done in your system, so get a loaner and check it out before you buy.

I haven't heard what many here would consider "top tier" phonostages but I ran the Whest PS.30 (using a Dynavector 20XM mounted on a VPI Scout) against the EAR 834P, Acoustat PH1 and the ARC PH5 and it was markedly better than all of them. Very three dimensional, quiet, detailed and dynamic. Not sure how it would compete against much pricier models since they were out of my reach. Of course all of this is very subjective and system dependent--not sure a ranking like this is really of much value. You really have to consider the cartridge and the phonostage as a package rather than rate phonostages as a stand alone item.