What can you tell me about First Sound pre-amps?

And here I come again to address Drubin's curiosity about my "preamp of choice." I don't really have one at this point. And I still own my First Sound; it's just that occasional glare bothers me more then it once did. I think some of that is that I once thought it was the amp or equipment stand, until I replaced the stands to Neuance platforms, Zoethecus and even Ikea Lack tables (the Billy Baggs racks ring something fierce! I find it hard to believe that the Absolute Sound recommended them: they must have cotton in their ears, seriously! All you have to do is tap the top of the stand and it'll ring).
Some of the things I notice about the First Sound are recent.
Some of the rest of the system: Accuphase amp, Hurricanes, and about 10 speaker systems including the Genesis 6.1s for two months. Other components include Nordost Valhalla interconnect/speaker cable; Shunyata speaker cable/interconnects; Transparent speaker cable/interconnects (and each company's respective power cords, including the Valhalla power cords, Transparents top of the line power cord, and Shunyatas Pythons). Several different front ends: JVC 1010 and 1050 and 1010 modified, Sony DVP 9000ES and Philips SACD 1000 as well as an Arcam FMJ 23 (never, ever glaring up top!). Turntables, too....
I'd love to know why brass glares on the system, but haven't found an answer. Changed plug polarity and everything.
I think the link I included where the poster, who owns both the CAT and the FS, and said the FS never sounds "sweet" is on the mark. It's a very "clear" component, but it seems, in the most recent incarnations, to have lost some of the sweetness it might have had. My linestage was an older one, and it was definitely "sweeter" than the Presence Deluxe Mk. II I now have. I think in eliminating some of the "electronic sound" that Emmanuel dislikes, he may have done away with some of the "tenderness" that music displays. Just my observations, of course.

The only reason I'd look for an alternative, really, is to have a remote and to have more granularity in the volume adjustment. Oh, a mono switch would be nice I suppose. Better sound is difficult for me to imagine, but that would be a factor, too.

Mphnkns, those are fine posts you made. Thank you for your thoughtful comments and your response to my question.

Any of you FS owners in the SF Bay Area?

TVAD - I ended up not getting that 4-box unit, mostly because the seller found out it did not have the upgrades (Vishay stepped attenuator, paramount upgrade) he though it had, so he's gonna keep it and upgrade it for himself.

As for those other thoughful impressions of the FS, I would add that MY Presence Deluxe MK II (fed with electraglide, cabled with Stereovox, amplified by berning, into Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage's, with 1960's Pinched waist Amperex 6922's) is as smooth as silk, no glare or hardness I can perceive - none at all, and the emotional content of music is "there" in spades.....