I used a Steelhead for a long while, and agree with Lacee that it sounds better from the fixed outputs. Am presently using the Allnic H3000 with very musical results. For years, during the late 80's and into the 90's, I hung on to my ARC SP-10 mkii, which had a very sweet phono section. But it couldn't really accommodate low output moving coil cartridges well and once I changed to a horn-based speaker system (from Crosby Quads), the noise floor forced me to move to a more modern preamp.
While separate line and phono stages gives you more flexibility, you do have to factor in the cost of that additional piece of interconnect, which can, when taken into account, give you a greater budget for complete preamp that includes a phono stage.
While separate line and phono stages gives you more flexibility, you do have to factor in the cost of that additional piece of interconnect, which can, when taken into account, give you a greater budget for complete preamp that includes a phono stage.