phono pre amp giant killer?

Truly top flight? Closer to 10 times your budget will get you very good phono stage performance. But it will probably take closer to 20 times to get "truly top flight".

Are your heels back on the ground? ;-)

Let us know what kind of music you prefer and what the rest of your system is. Based on that I'm sure someone can offer you good options within your budget.

Sorry, Andy. You're going to have to spend more than $350 for "truly top flight performance".

Currently, there is a Musical Fidelity X-LP + X-PSUv3 on the 'gon for $450 and a Musical Fidelity X-LPS v8 for $325. Both would be good placed to start within your budget. I've owned an XLPs before and thought it was very nice for the money. Good resolution. Low noise. etc.

However, I have to say that, IMHO, your budgeting priorites are a bis askew (re: budget for cartridge vs. budget for phono stage). However, perhaps it's me who is off-base - I run a Denon 103R through my Ayre P-5xe phono stage.

The cheap Project solid state phono stage is MUCH better than their cheap tube phon stage. I got to hear them both in the same system.

Andy I feel your pain. Now on a more serious note. I would be looking at a fabulous phone pre-amp and very over looked one at that an Adcom GPS 565. The phono section was I believe engineered by John Curl and has gone up against many audiophile biggies such as the Audio Research SP-10 and
SP-11 and almost smoked the 10 and bettering the 11. I will admit that it is not a looker or a center piece and it has no remote. But it is built well,the phono section is dead quiet and should give you the performance that you just might be looking for.

On your budget, if your looking for a phono stage to compete with the ones around 2K, you should consider the PS Audio GCPH. You can pick one up for around $700 (there's one going for $625). If you can get a Cullen Modified one, all the better.