Analogue only preamp ideas? - no need for internal DAC!


So making progress in my quest for perfection.

have a great dac, Chord Tt2
great amp Mcintosh great speakers, B&W 804 D3And a Roon Nucleus.

but I have a subpar avr,

An analogue only preamp seems ideal and so many have a standalone dac, so analogue preamp seems a good idea.

Mcintosh has some units that seem quite nice, eg C70 tube.  Seems tube is a great way to go but tubeless has pros too.

Need some ideas. Thanks




emergingsoul

Showing 1 response by mahler123

Have you posed this question in the amplifier forum?
I haven’t bought a preamp in a while.  I have a tubed Cary Preamp which I like to pair with a Parasound JC power amp that drives my B&W 803Ds.  I like the depth of soundstage and sense of air around the instruments and the enhanced colors of the Orchestral instruments compared to my Parasound Solid State preamp, but the Parasound JC preamp is really quiet and controls the lowest end bass a bit better.
  Defining a budget would help.  Audio Research came out with a new preamp but 15K may be more than your budget.  Vincent, Rouge Audio,Prima Luna make tubed pre amps in the 1.5-3K range.