Phono stages get dramatically better with cost. You will probably find a $500 Phono stage better. I have been unhappy with low cost phono stages.
You can get surprisingly good sound out of a few thousands of dollars of analog. I typically recommend the investment in the phonostage roughly equal the TT. I had an old AR turntable which I was finally able to put in next to my contemporary TT (through a $17K Phonostage)… it sounded terrible. There has been huge improvements in TT over the last 30 or 40 years.
For the last few years I have been playing the game of having analog and digital neck and neck. Digital was better until my most recent upgrade, where vinyl moved ahead a bit. Both are totally satisfying. You can see my system.
Just some random thoughts.