I think u need to consider your source also. I own a perpetual technology dac that uses 24 bit upsampling. And i also own a Bryston bp25 preamp. If you are considering a source with and upsampling feature than go solid state. My bryston preamp with this dac is simply amazing. If you are going to use a 16 bit source with oversampling than go tube in your preamp. The bryston preamp has pinpoint stereo imaging with really nice rythym and pace. If you audition this pre than make sure u try the 10k ohm tape monitor input. It is the nices input on the model.
preamp suggestions - help :
currently, i have b&w n 804's with the rotel rb1080 - any thoughts on a good preamp? i'm not too concerned with the cd transport - i've considered a few things including the benchmark dac, etc but i'm really having a tough time with which preamp i should look into. i'm open to including a tube somewhere in the chain but i've heard the 804's do really well with SS... -i'm really at a loss here. any input would be hugely appreciated! :)