You have to know and understand at circuit level what it takes to make the finest sounding phono stage. To get the very best sound the RIAA circuit needs to be very simple with very few parts in the signal path and no switches or display screens, preferably a single-ended circuit using a couple of triodes and with zero feedback. Using a balanced circuit means the signal will be traveling through at lease double the parts and double the number of active stages that it needs to, then feedback will be needed to keep everything in check and this will compromise the audio performance. Also, I can't think of a worse place to use a digital screen and a micro processor than in a phono stage, due to all that RFI and digital noise that will be generated inside the phono stage case. The noise generated by any microprocessor used to control the display screen could be as much as the audio signal the phono stage will be trying to amplify. There should be no place for that sort of circuitry inside a high performance phono stage, if the conversation is about getting the best or the finest performance. Don't forget if the audio signal has to go through a number of internal switches, say for switch inputs, switching loading, switching between MM to MC, or different MC gains, as all these will heavily compromise the signal at its lowest level before any amplification, so you are not going to get the best performance from your turntable, tonearm and cartridge.