You can save a LOT of money buying the Little RAT phono stage over the Creek, NAD's etc. The Little Rat sounds very good and threads posted at Audio Asylum have argued JUST as good as those from some of these other far more expensive models. The Little RAT is sold at Radio Shack suprisingly and runs about $40.00Cdn. $30.00US. It requires a 9 Volt battery.

I have one as a back-up in case the amplifier I want comes up used and the version doesn't have a phono stage.

Can't say anythig about the Denon - try to get a belt drive table. My research has shown that Direct Drive tables have skewed their numbers to look better on paper but are far worse when other measurements, not done by most of the indusry, are used. And direct drive isn't necessarily either.

I don't know which the Denon is.