Effective recommendations to add warmth & smoothness while keeping bass control

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. 

Effective room acoustics 

@slaw a huge +1