Effective recommendations to add warmth & smoothness while keeping bass control

@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 

Call Dan at ModWright and ask about his tube buffer.  It may be just the ticket.