“Classic” phono stages 2007-20013?

Overall the time span probably isn’t that tight. Perhaps the better way to phrase the question would have been “older phono stages”. My analog gear is from that era, and it might be cool to find a top notch piece from that time... see how it matches up. Unfortunately, many of the ARC pieces don’t have enough gain for a low MC. So my choices are find a cool piece MM/MC or MM with a SUT. That just adds another cable set etc. in an already challenging ground situation, another set of cables is something I would prefer to avoid. Currently I’m running a Moon 5.3 SS. Not at all unhappy with it. But then, I really haven’t heard many phono stages at this point. Never heard a tube stage though, and I’m thinking about giving one a shot. Thus the question... 

Mid 1980s. Croft Micro. £150.

A classic that's both highly regarded and affordable is the EAR834p phono stage. I've owned the Deluxe MM/MC version for maybe 12 years.

I replaced it this year with a PS Audio Stellar Phone which is very new and very well reviewed. It's even Stereophile's 2020 Product of the Year.

I like the new one fine, but I've kept the EAR and wonder if I'm getting all that much better sound with the new Stellar.

Before buying the Stellar I posted on the PS Audio forum and Paul (Mr. PS Audio) McGown responded that the EAR was so good that it was his hope his product would be better but even he wasn't sure it would be.

I might need to give the EAR834p a shot. It sounds like it hits “all the buttons” so to speak... by far the one most mentioned here so far!

If you do give it a shot (it is definitely worth doing so) and if by chance you plan on using only MM carts, you can consider the less expensive MM only/no MC version.  To me, the EAR 834P has an inherently superior sound without the MC transformers in the signal path.

Something else you might consider is one of the older full featured preamps with outstanding phono stages and use only its phono stage.  I still have my old Melos 222C preamp that I haven’t used in many years and decided to keep after realizing that to sell it I would have to practically give it away considering its original $3200 price.  It has an outstanding and very flexible phono stage that I would put in the same league, or higher, as the EAR.  

Some other older “classic” preamps to consider for their phono stages only would be the Quicksilver, Audio Research SP-14, perhaps even a CJ PV5 (I’m showing my age ☺️).  All could probably be had for considerably less money than the EAR.