Stand-alone phono amps?

I owned a Jadis DMPC before,the one for sale now is not by me...it is valve based and very musical ,but NOT for real low MC's outputs...has a volume control and had plenty of gain to drive my passive...most others use a j-fet or transformer to step up...plenty of good transistor based phono's around...I agree with Tom ,transformer based passive is the way to go,if you need also a CD input...matter of fact I did take the volume control on the Jadis DPMC out of the circuit and ran into the passive which was a improvement...now I am using a transistor based phono,with a valve amplifier...nice...hope this helps...

Hi and geetings again from Australia...
The Jadis had a tendency to have a bit of a warm sound...I used RAM "quiet" tubes in the first stage and NOS in the second...still,it was never entirely neutral,compared to my transistor ones ,but very musical and therefore easy listening...great soundstage...not entirely quiet ,some tube noise,but not enough to bother me...very good match for a passive line stage...