Upgrading pre amp advice.

Looking at the kit you already have it’s a tough choice. Nice to see someone else with the Nilai Mono blocks though. I would aim for a completely neutral pre amp for testing purposes I would go for a truly passive design. But I wonder if a better resolution might be a different DAC or speakers. For better placing and depth I.E. pint point accuracy and placement I’ve always been of the opinion that speaker positioning and room acoustics have more effect than anything. Unless you are an older gentleman like myself where my ears change on a day to day basis. :)

L.I near Tube Audio , excellent preamplifier.

@simonb : what preamp do you use? And which speakers do you have?
I agree placing of speakers is very very important and so is room treatment. But I think more is possible to reveal by my speakers.

@audioman58 : this amp doesn't have balanced in- and outputs I would like to have.

The LINEAR TUBE AUDIO  does not have to be balanced , just order it with the balanced input transformers it’s actually $600 less $$  for the otl output stage 

uses RCAs anyway.

I meant to say just order without balanced input transformers ,$600 less $$.