Balanced preamp recommendation : w4s, hegel, parasound


Hi all,

I'm looking to change my audio Gd nfb1amp preamp for one with a real HT bypass (plus xlr input, 2 RCA inputs, RCA and XLR outputs...).

The power amp is a Nord Ncore 500.
I've found 3 candidates under 1500$ (used ones) :

- wyred4sound Mpre : great reviews a few years ago but very ugly
- hegel P20 : very few reviews, looks solid
- Parasound P7 : swiss army knife. Musical enough?

What are your views on these devices ? Is there other good choices for the same price ?
I prefer neutral/ warm sound than bright one.
I made some researches on the forum, I live in Europe so many brands are unavailable in my country (or too much custom taxes).
I saw the Schiit Freya, it hasn't real HT bypass, it's too bad, very affordable.
;)





ros3bud
I've never heard about the emotiva xsp1...interesting

Any thoughts about the audio gd master 1 versus the others (mpre w4s, parasound p7, primare pre32...)?
+1, @stringreen,  I also recommend the OP consider one of the Ayre Acoustics pre-amps.  Please see:

https://www.ayre.com/categories/pre-amps/

There are six Ayre pre-amps for sale on Audiogon at several different price points.