Levinson 326s or McIntosh C200 ?

You may be suprised. I've heard both but never side by side. The 326 is a very refined, fairly smooth sounding preamp. Polite, as well. I wouldn't call it cold or very analytical, though. Its good all around and should work well with a wide variety of equipment. The Mac may be a little warmer and just a bit less detailed. It will the more dynamic of the 2. Its another good all around choice. Neither would be my absolute first choice, but I think both are great preamps.

If you don't mind, why these 2 preamps? Was there a reason that you narrowed down your choices to these 2? I'm just curious. Like I said before, I think you can't go wrong with either. One other thing I will add, but you probably know already, is that both units are extremely well made. If you plan on keeping the preamp for a long time, you shouldn't have any type of major issues from a reliability standpoint.

"Whoever said, that all the music you love comes from the pre-amp, is right on."

Its great to see that more and more people are starting to realize just how important a quality preamp is for great sound.

Billandsol

I share your opinion on BAT. They make some of the best stuff out there. Some other great alternatives under 10k that I would recommend are; Ayre, Aesthetix And Audio Research.