Calypso owners, what did you trade up to?

While I still own my Calypso, the preamp I would take over it would be the Ref 3. With the right tubes in the Calypso, I have not found another preamp in the ballpark that I prefer (not having tried them all - obviously), but the one that I have that I would take would be the Ref. 3. Of course it is over twice the price, so I cannot justify this at the moment and am not sure that the additional scratch can really be justified (for me). I still want to hear the Ayre K1xe.

I have tried more than a few, and preferred the Tom Evans Vibe and Pulse, CAT Ultimate MkII, VTL 5.5, and my current Lamm LL2. I will qualify by saying I used the Calypso with a McCormack DNA500, which is not an ideal amp for the Calypso due to its lowish 10K ohm input impedance which would likely cause a roll-off of the lower bass response because of Calypso's higher output impedance in the low frequencies.

I have had the Calypso for one year, then I went to ARC LS25MKII, big gain on the low notes and soundstage, now I have the REF2 MKII, one of the great preamp ever made