Thinking about a VK-50SE Pre-amp? Any opinions

No opinions, but I hear you regarding the upgrade bug, or is just change in system bug. How does one with limited access to auditions choose among:
First Sound
BAT
CAT
Joule Electra
Sonic Frontiers
ARC
Supratek
and a lot more?

vk-50SE is THE BEST tube preamp I've heard. Staggering transparency with tube 'aliveness'. Most tube preamps trade resolution for this 'sense of life'. Not the BAT.

I use a vk-5i w/nos tubes with my tube amps. Less transparency, but golden hearted and with an exquisite midrange. I've put an ARC ls-25 mk I and an LS-5MkIII against it and it easily won.

I have not heard the new ARC Ref 2, mark II preamp. I owned the Ref1, and the vk-50SE ate it for breakfast, lunch, dinner AND evening snack. I did not hear them back to back, but the 5i might be better too.

Strangely enough, my favorite tube combination is the bat preamps mated to ARC vt100 or vt200. The two house sounds seem to fill each other in. I prefer it to the sound of the vk-5i/vk60 combo I heard. Sounded good, but the vt100 had more punch and this 'bold' sound to it.

Thanks everyone for the input. Sounds like the VK-50SE is a winner. That is what I was afraid of. Now the hard part ($$$) I have yet to hear a bad thing about BAT as a company either and that is important to me. I know the warranty is not transferrable but I am hoping that the 51 upgrade would be available to me as a second owner. I will check with BAT. I will be using it in a ASC designed (sort of)dedicated room with ESP Concert Grands bi-amped with two VT-100 MKII's. A Dodson 217MKIID and Ml 31 transport. Cable hopefully will be SR Designer Reference which I am trying to acquire now and a Orchid AES-EBU digital cable. Power cords primarily are Harmonix Studio Masters (awesome unknown product) and Top Gun Hi-Current. Have Kevin Deal's NOS in the LS-25 and have given it a full marigo dot treatment. It sounds good I think but I have not heard "the big boys" of the pre-amp world lately. My system needs a lot of work in terms of speaker placement experimentation, but the Grands are a handful at 275 lbs ea. Oh well, thanks again to you all and I will keep my fingers crossed on joining the VK-50SE club soon. Need somebody to buy my Von Schweikert VR-6's first. (shameless classifies plug)

Isolate this pre and you'll find a world of happines. Experiment over and over until you are satisfied. If you don't try isolation, even primative attempts, you may get the wrong impreesion of this unit. The softer the material, (ie: wood rack, maple platform) it sits on, the more tubey it can sound. The harder the material, like a rigid stand or granite, the more precise and dynamic it might sound. For some that might not be what they expect from a tube product. The fun lies in the experimentation and system tuning. Just my 1.5 cents.