Tube Preamp with Solid State Amp?

Having danced the dance for decades between all tube and all SS, I have yet to find a reasonably priced tube pre that didn’t go too far in the ’silky’ sonic range.

Real music has a sharp leading edge with certain instruments, which most tube components tend to smooth over. But in the process, the sound stage and floor gets noisier, which diminishes imaging and micro-details. Many dacs are equally guilty of this


I owned the P5 which is a decent pre, but I ran mine via the XLRs, not quite differential but close. I replaced it with a Audio Alchemy DPA-1 + PS 5 outboard power supply and built in dac. If you can find the combination it is a significant upgrade, plus it has 4 choices to tailor the dac to your system and ears

hth

You could try a hybrid  tube preamp which has just one set of gain tubes, like some of the VTL preamps. I've got a VTL 7.5 III driving my Dartzeel and it sounds bloody mavelous.

All my systems since 1992 featured a tube preamp with a solid state amp.  To me it just sounds right.  

Op, Not sure what your sources are but I use a digital library and Qobuz. So....from DAC to SS amp was too clinical sounding and when I added a Tube Preamp the sound that I like was perfect. Its personal taste how crisp vs how smooth someone prefers.  Perhaps borrowing one or doing a risk free trial is in order?  IMHO it is a question only your ears can answer.  Best of luck....cheers.