Effective recommendations to add warmth & smoothness while keeping bass control

Loudspeaker and listener position followed by acoustic room treatments.

@audphile1  

Thank you for the abundant and useful information. You’ve pretty much answered all of my questions. I have a pair of Wharfedale Lintons as my main speakers, currently driven by a neutral Parasound A23. The combination tends to be detailed but a bit bright, depending on the recording, and I’d like to tame the tone a bit. My second set is a pair of Buchardt S400 IIs, which already lean warm — I’d like to make them more neutral. I’ll wait until I sort out the first set before touching the second.

With all the information and confirmations I’m gathering, I’m leaning toward a CODA amp coupled with a tube preamp — possibly from Conrad‑Johnson, as you suggested. I plan to acquire the tube preamp first and see how well it performs with a neutral SS amp before considering a CODA upgrade.

Any specific recommendations on a CJ tube preamp or others? My budget is up to $2,000 (with a stretch to $2,500). Used gear is fine.

I did not go into the bass... ss vs tube. 

Without getting too into it. I ran a Pass X350 for about a decade. I wanted to try an Audio Research Ref 160S. My intent was to switch them back and forth and decide which to keep. When I put the Audio Research amp in... within a minute I knew it was never going back in. Even though my first thought was were'd the slam go. Since then I realized that much of solid state slam is somewhat artificial. The slam tend to be an instantaneous peak which then fades can fails to reproduced the nuanced decay. The tube amp is MUCH more nuanced and real sounding. I will never be going back to solid state amps... even as tonally they are really good. 

So. You must try a high quality  tube amp. For me, solid state amps often have great slam... but tube amps get the music right. 

@yyzsantabarbara  Thank you for the useful information. As mentioned earlier, I am considering the CODA #11 but want to wait until I complete my experiment with adding a tube preamp first. Please let us know the outcome of your comparison between Schiit and CODA. CODA #16 is unfortunately outside my budget.

I am considering the Freya with tubes, along with any other recommendations that may come from the group or my own research.  In terms of DACs, I currently enjoy the D90 Discrete and the Micro R2R DAC for now given my setup. Multipath DACs or any other high-end/luxury DACs like you had are certainly appealing, but they are well above my budget. 

@lanx0003 sounds like a good plan to get the tube pre first. With CJ pick the model that’s within your budget and not very old. $2000 won’t get you the very latest and the greatest. I think @ghdprentice can advise on reliability and recommended age as well as model.