Worthy alternatives to the Aria for my RP8/Apheta 2?

So I’m picking up a Rega RP8 with Apheta 2 cart in another week and probably the easy thing to do would be to get the Aria stage and be done with it. I like how it sounds and would be happy. But I’m curious: Has anyone found great synergy between the RP8/Apheta 2 and other stages? I’m particularly keen on any with balanced output as I might look at an Ayre integrated. Thanks, folks!