suggestions on preamp

But a used placette passive. They go for that price, and they are amazing. Transperency and highs like you would not believe. I no longer use a pre, but if I did, it would probably be the placette (Note: I have tried far more expensive pre-amps's. Each ahd their pluses, but I alwasy preferd the placette) The placette does not have a sound IMHO, and thus garbage in, garbage out. It will not help a bad source sound good as some other pre-amps will. Hope this helps.

The best one is the one that best matches poweramp.
I personally like McCormack preamps. You could use them with high sencitiviy poweramps since they're either passive or have a very low gain. In this situation you get maximum transperency.

Nothing beats the Audible Illusions line of pre-amp in that price range. Get a Modulus 3A and you'll never turn back. If you live near Jersey, you can come over and hear mine.