Upgrading pre amp advice.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Musical Fidelity Ms8pre  , I have it mated with an Jc5 Halo and also tried the Ayre K-5xe- mp and JC2 bypass . The MS8pre just ticked all my boxes and sounded phenomenal! 

My "advice" is to buy an Audio Analogue DAC for $5k with an analogue volume control and pull out your preamp and its interconnects(and sell it all!) from the chain. 

A DAC with a very good analogue volume control removes the need for a preamp, which is basically an expensive volume control that adds its own characteristics. 

That's what I'm doing with a Playback Designs DAC. 

@vhond 

So I can’t offer a straightforward amount. 
Here’s some background.

my starting point was an Auralic g2.1 streamer feeding a Sonnet Pasithea DAC using the DAC as a preamp. I actually really loved this combination. But then I went crazy and wanted to add a turntable to the mix and the DAC only had digital inputs so I needed a separate preamp. That’s when I tried two separate preamps in the 3k price range and was not happy with either. Felt like I was going backwards.

in my exploration for a third preamp I read some great reviews of the Grimm MU2, which would replace the Auralic , the Sonnet, and provide what people said was a fantastic analog pre, and so figured I’d give that a try.

turned out I agree wholeheartedly with all I read and this was clearly a step up in my overall listening experience, but it was also a price increase that felt really had to swallow at that time.

@simonb : I've read about the PRE90, for it's price it's a no-go but it may be what to clinical and not as resolving AND full bodied as more expensive control amplifiers?

@fatdaddy2 : I already experimented with several setups and I think it's as good as 90% (okay, the other 10% depends of which music I am playing and I don't want to move my speakers all the time ; )

@oddiofyl : I have to think good about it (spending more as my budget is now, I can only spend it once ; )

@jdub39 : can you please tell me the differences you heard between the Ayre K-5xe- mp and the Musical Fidelity MS8 PRE?

@vinylshadow : DAC with great pre amp only is not an option because I also want to connect other sources.

@glenmschneider : I know the Grimm stuff very well but it's only where I can dream of (= unfortunately above my budget)

Buy once, cry once..   My most marked improvements with component upgrades have been upgrading the preamp.  

Speakers, sure the difference is easy to tell but the importance of preamp is often overlooked.  All of your sources go through it and it drives your amp.