Preamps with an internal phono stage became a bit of a rarity after digital began ruling the audio world. So a preamp 'evolved' into a line stage. One nice exception to this high end audio rule was the Boulder 1010, released around 2001. It's also fully balanced, which apparently you're interested in.
This model had a very long production run and was replaced a few years ago by the 1110. The price of the new model has gone way up as is the current trend in high end, but it is now 'sans' phono stage. Boulder has never been exactly cheap, but used samples of the 1010 do appear on the market from time to time at prices around your $5k max. Its phono stage is excellent, although the gain of the MC stage at 60dB rules out the use of very low output MC's. In that case you should consider a dedicated low impedance step up transformer on its MM position.
This model had a very long production run and was replaced a few years ago by the 1110. The price of the new model has gone way up as is the current trend in high end, but it is now 'sans' phono stage. Boulder has never been exactly cheap, but used samples of the 1010 do appear on the market from time to time at prices around your $5k max. Its phono stage is excellent, although the gain of the MC stage at 60dB rules out the use of very low output MC's. In that case you should consider a dedicated low impedance step up transformer on its MM position.