Recommend The Best No Frills Preamp up to $5K.

I like the sound of a good tube preamp. I started with a Van Alstine Transcendence 8 but recently upgraded to a Conrad Johnson Premier 17 LS2. This will be my forever preamp as other components come and go. I found mine on EBay for $2500

I’ve owned quite a few preamps around this price class, from Mac, Allnic, AVA, Coda, Bel Canto, Benchmark, just to name a few. 

I settled on the Topping A70Pro HP amp/preamp. Yup, all were bested or equaled by a $499 “Chi-Fi” preamp!

My main takeaway from having tried all these preamps is that the most important factor in performance is the volume control implementation. All the best sounding preamps employ high quality relay resistor-ladder controls. Second to those were the preamps using IC chips. The most unimpressive preamps employ conventional potentiometers. 

I’ve been very happy with my VTL TL-5.5 series 1.

Had the 2.5 & upgraded to the 5.5.

Pure tube - RCA & balanced out.

I am nearly 100% vinyl and confess a predisposition to a tube pre and ss power setup. With those admissions out of the way, i would cast a strong second for a Supratek preamp. Great build quality - hand wired - and a transferable lifetime warranty. Not to mention the eye appeal. Have had a number of preamps over the years - most recently a Conrad Johnson unit. Picked up the Supratek Chenin - I think the Cortese is the current model - about 8 years ago and see no reason to ever change. A new unit is under your $5k limit and half that if you are fortunate enough to find one of the few which come up for resale. Have previously paired it with both CJ and Threshold ss power amps, driving Magneplanar and Golden Ear speakers. Currently using a pair of PS Audio monoblocks driving Diptyque planar speakers. Sounds great to this old man’s ears.

Wyred4Sound STP SE. Natural uncolored sound.