What separate tube phono stage do you use ?

I have Daedalus Athena's as main speakers and also an LCS system from Audio Kinesis for fill-in driven by a separate amplifier.

76db gain tube phono stage and no noise ? Very impressive.
Ralph, what do you think ? How did he manage that ?

Oh there's noise alright. All phono sections have noise.
Its likely using a step-up transformer. Its very easy to get low noise and high gain in that manner!

Hey Inna, interesting thread!  I've run an Aesthetix Rhea for about 10 years and like it (but don't love it).  After a few years, of daily use, I need to re-tube it as it gets very noisy, and it uses 10 tubes = expensive!  But I've owned and tried many phono setups, and this one does deliver a wonderful musical experience with the large-scale orchestral music that is my mainstay.  It won't solve the problem that Ralph as pointed out about feeding a tape recorder directly, but it's a nice unit otherwise.

I lust after Ralph's (Atma-Sphere) MP-1 preamp as my ultimate phono.  Unfortunately, high end has become even more high and I've never been able to afford one on a fixed income.  I have a pair of Ralph's M60 amplifiers that are my all-time favorites, hope to never part with them.  They are wonderful room heaters in the cold northern winter.

I'm also a fan of Modwright's gear, having had multiple tube-infused digital pieces that Dan has built.  He has a new recently introduced phono stage that is incredibly impressive (in an unfamiliar system), but again too expensive for my budget.  But I've heard he also is introducing a lower-priced version that uses trickle-down technology, might be terrific, knowing Dan.  Worth your while to check it out?

Hope this helps.

I have a Conrad Johnson TEA2MAX, high gain (55db) and a Bob's SUT set to 5:1 and it sounds mighty good with my Ortofon Per Winfeld.  Trouble for all of us is that we don't know how all of these compare with each other.  Isn't it ironic that in today's market with the plethora of choices available to us, there is no way to make comparisons?  This dilemma exists for phono stages, and cartriges, and turntables, and arms, and interconnects and....

Maybe if we could compare easily few companies would survive for long. While sometimes it is a matter of match and preferences, at other times it is clearly better/worse.
The same in other areas - lawyers, doctors, programmers and many others. 
Yeah, Aesthetix has been proven to be good to many people for quite some time, though some of those people eventually moved higher, I heard. Allnic ranks very high these days, from the entry model and all the way up. I would want to avoid it but I can't rule out that I would have to try a few one by one by buying and selling. New Allnic 1202, their least expensive model, should be even better than before because they added tube power supply.