All in one Pre/Power/Streaming/DAC or Streaming Preamp/DAC combo ~$2k-4k recommendations

Wanted to chime in on the tonal balance of the gold note is-1000, which i own alongside an ayre ex-8. The gold note is in fact the warmer sounding (and cooler running) of the two units. Streaming, the ayre is clearly more resolving, delicate, and transparent, the gold note privileges strong drive and a rich, moving magnet like sense of midband body. Unlike the ayre, which has a fantastic one; the gold note does not have a headphone out but its included phono stage is truly sonically exceptional (if limited in configurability), even compared to many very fine external phono preamps when using a high quality lomc or mm cart. 

@joshelston happy to provide my perspectives on the two units respectively. I find the gold note very far from "hot," and the darko review seriously perpexplexing, as if anything the gold note is warm, bold, and a little barrel chested - it’s great strength is midbass pressure and midband richness and color. By comparison the Ayre is silverier, shining with upper presence region purity. They both use mcontrol on mobile and are both roon ready, - the gold note uses an optical alps volume control though so responds more quickly to volume changes and has mqa; the ayre counters with a screen displaying track info. I have an android, but i understand gold note has a dedicated app for iphone/ipad out already. Both are excellent; would pair the gold note with a brighter system and the ayre with a richer one. The gold note phono stage and ayre headphone out are also truly extraordinary. 

p.s. as you can tell, I really like the unit's approach and think it's oddly underreported in English language press. This is in polish by a writer for 6moons and other publications, but i think this is the most accurate review of the gold note's approach to sonics (obviously, there are always tradeoffs): http://www.highfidelity.pl/@main-3249&lang=
The parts that stand out as true (translated) are: "The amplifier we are talking about this time seems to be "tuned" for a warm, tube sound. He builds large, effective plans, creates vocals in such a way that they are always in the foreground and the most important, and the top of the band soothes, so that even the smallest paproch, the innocent one, can not slip away.

This is not the first time, and probably not the last one when we are dealing with this type of stylistics in an Italian product. There is something in this sunny, warm, good to live - from the point of view of Northern Europe - the country, which means that the creators, including audio designers, do not make us worry. IS-1000 sounds like it was to be part of the therapy prescribed by a personal trainer, supported by the wisdom of a spiritual guide.

As I say, the most important are the vocals, or - as you can guess - the midrange. He is the king, enlightened by the absolute ruler. Enlightened, because he knows what is needed by his subjects, that is to us, but nevertheless absolute and strong enough to realize his own vision. Listened to this angle Leonard Cohen from the album Popular Problems, from which the song opens the second season of the True Detective series (directed by Nic Pizzolatto, 2015), sounded in a dense and authoritative way. The brightening of the higher diameter, revealing the poor recording of his voice, was gone, and filling and density were left.

The same was with the voice of Brian Flanagan from the album Where Dreams Are Made. This is a classic realization for Stockfisch, ie soft, with a low accent and large vocal. Similarly to the part of the recording of the voice of this studio, also here the part of the higher measure seems to be underlined, the sibilants are a bit stronger than in the best recordings - say - Sinatra. I think I understand the strategy of the executors responsible for these recordings. It would consist in trying to revive quite warm, and thus inherently slower, playing. But in effect, the sound of the voice was also slightly destabilized. It's a sensible choice (compromise), but it's always a choice.
...

The listening confirms what I said in the introduction, that is, the IS-1000 is an integrated amplifier equipped with a file player and this amplifier is the most important here. He can play with panache, large volume, beautiful color. It is warm, there is no doubt about it and it resembles the sound of small tube amplifiers, but with a higher current efficiency. The bass is not too rigorously controlled, regardless of the settings. It is in it in perfect synchronization, one could say: spiritual communication. Similarly, the mountain - silky and smooth.

The file player (streamer) sounds in turn - there is no surprise - like a warm turntable. We are talking about warm colors, large vocals, relaxed mountain and midrange domination. Not everyone will like it and not every music genre will benefit. However, we are sure that no record, no recording, including Tidal, will sound bad or unpleasant. This is a reasonable compromise, which is in line with the Gold Note philosophy. This sophisticated sound designed for those who like peace and in his name are ready to sacrifice bandwidth and resolution."