I agree with Driver about the Pass Aleph P. I used to be a die hard tube fanatic. Why? Because they sounded so much smoother and were more revealing with my ribbon speakers than with any solid state component I had heard. Then a friend, who builds amps commercially, twisted my arm very hard, trying to get me to audition the solid state Pass X amp and a Pass pre amp. I tried his suggestion halfway. Following the common wisdom found in the posts above I chose to use a tube pre with the Pass X amp. It was pretty darn good, but not as transparent as I knew ribbons speakers can be. Swallowing hard, I bought a Pass Aleph P and completed the set like my friend had wanted. Now I can only describe my system as "reference," meaning the whole system gets out of the way of the music. I still think that the best cd player is a tubed cd player; Pass doesn't make a cd player.
Which SS preamps will compete w/ tubes?
I have been looking for a preamp in the $2500.00 and under range. After about two weeks of looking I am more confused than before I started!!! I have a Sim titan amp and now am considering a sim P-5 preamp for music. What other preamps out there would be a good musical choice? I initially wanted tube but I am starting to get dizzy from all of the options. I do not want to be searching for a long time experimenting with tubes and dealing with replacing them. Is it worth the time and effort????