Best tube-based phono stage?

There is no definitive "best" of anything. There are way too many variables involved. The "best" you can hope for is to find something that works well in your system. You can then say it's the "best" for you until you find something you think is better !!!!

My friend likes the Tron; I am SS myself. Agree that there is no "best".

Experience Music Kahn LCR phono stage is the best I've heard. Feel free to PM.

My friend is thinking about buying a Pro-Ject debut III turntable with USB, so he can get his rare vinyl cuts into iTunes. This deck comes with an Ortofon OM5e cart. Does that help? Has anyone got any experience porting vinyl into iTunes?
He mentioned that if he liked the Project deck, he'd probably upgrade in the future and pair that upgraded deck with a phono stage; he mentioned Jolida and Project phono stages.

A budget would help. At under $1000 and MM only, I liked the Quicksilver.

At near $4k, it seems that the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 has been very well reviewed.