i'm in a similar situation i'm looking for a Phono stage in around the $2k give or take a few hundred. and there is so many out there that are good in this price range. the Chinook and the Musical Surroundings super nova 2 are high on my list, as the Zesto is just a bit out of my price range used still. but i'm still open to suggestions as well so i'll be keeping my eye on this thread.
but to answer some of your questions. tube phono's tend to be more musical and slightly warmer but tend to have more hiss and back ground noise. SS are quieter but not as lush sounding. that's of course a generalisation as there is great SS and Tube phono stages, specially as you go up in price and they can spend more on tube components the tube vs SS gap closes. I tend to like the synergy of tubes driving tubes but if you follow the impedance rules your fine. I've been happy with both.
But don't forget to look for something that will allow you to change carts as you mentioned as some phono stages have more flexibility then other when it comes to settings like input impedance and capacitance.