I've bought preamps twice. Both times I did a bunch of research, obsessed over it for a while, and then decided I didn't believe 98% of what I read and just bought Brystons because I believed they were close to as good as you can get and last forever. I bought a BP25 for $1000 in about 2008 and a BP26 about 5 years ago for about $2100. Both work perfectly. No noise in the knobs, connections all work perfectly. When I replaced the BP25 with the BP26 I thought it eliminated a very slight honkiness but it was so subtle that I only noticed it that one time.
Bryston BP-17 cubed or Benchmrk LA4 Preamp
My old Levinson No. 38s preamp is getting a bit long in the tooth. Oh, it is working fine; I've got the itch.
I have recently used a Cary CAD-120s in my system and found it less musical than my Bryston 2.5b cubed power amp, so tube preamps are out. Seems I just can't "appreciate" the tube sound.
I've been researching preamps. The Benchmark and the Bryston BP-17cubed (or other Bryston preamps) are the two that seem to meet my price and feature desires. But sound....don't know how these units differ. How different is the sound compared to my old Levinson? Which one(s) would you recommend?
My speakers are Usher V-604, a 2-way MTM floorstander, and a HSU sub.
Thanks for your help.