I also like a tube preamp and a SS amp. That said, some SS preamps are very good too.
I think you are dead on in staying open on the tube preamp issue. I rolled tubes in my preamp until I had synergy with my warm McCormack SS amp. I found that synergy with the cool stock tubes. They complimented each other with an overall more neutral sound that I preferred. I changed to NCore amps and found the system sounded very thin. Rolling warmer tubes in the preamp, I found much greater synergy. If I relied on just that quick test, I might think that the tube preamp or the NCore amps suck. It was just that I was just using tubes tailored for the first amp. FWIW, the NCore amps sounded great bypassing my tube preamp and going directly into the amps too. However, I am a tube guy.
Bob
I think you are dead on in staying open on the tube preamp issue. I rolled tubes in my preamp until I had synergy with my warm McCormack SS amp. I found that synergy with the cool stock tubes. They complimented each other with an overall more neutral sound that I preferred. I changed to NCore amps and found the system sounded very thin. Rolling warmer tubes in the preamp, I found much greater synergy. If I relied on just that quick test, I might think that the tube preamp or the NCore amps suck. It was just that I was just using tubes tailored for the first amp. FWIW, the NCore amps sounded great bypassing my tube preamp and going directly into the amps too. However, I am a tube guy.
Bob