Tube Preamp vs Solid State

I am working in this world for over 16 years of time. I have
sold both. I have tested both and auditioned many as well. I
love a physical 3 dimensional stage with a small intimate
individual focus of instruments and voices. But.....the overall
sound is the msot important part of audio in general. I want and
love the full pallet of colours in the mid freq. as in real.

Pass Labs amps have the advantages of solid state, but the sound
of tubes. This is in my personal taste the best balance. When
you want an even more tube sound add a tube pre amp. I would
never choose for a tube power and pre amp. When you are aware of
the speed, dynamics and timing of a Pass Labs poweramp you
cannot go back. Because this part is essential for the absolute
sound in my personal opinion!

Excuse me, I misspelled, its Goldpoint, not Goodpoint

Very nice! Thieliste & Phd-

Those espirit cables/cords are supposed to be very nice.
Additionally, I want to audition both VAC + VTL gear w/ Thiel loudspeakers. They are supposed to be sonic matches for one another. Excellent flow of information here, keep it coming. Happy Holidays.

My SS preamp is very clean sounding and puts an accurate signal into my tube power amp grease festival...I would like to get a tube preamp someday but anything I like is so expensive that I don't give a crap, and my feeling is that my tube amp is where the rubber meets the road...the system sounds great, and I prefer not to have another tube rolling gizmo draining my cash...still...that Cary is tempting...damn...

Out of interest - I am really taken aback by the fact if it is the case that your dealer won't lend you some pre-amps. In the UK it is taken for granted that you get to try out what you want before committing to the purchase. My penniesworth is that when I have heard a couple of all Karan Set ups they are pretty damn good - authority, even handed, not harsh at all. Like Wolf-Garcia i may go down the tube route one day, but I think what I may want will be stratospheric in price, and that which I have heard (mostly) is often soft at the top and bottom (Art Audio and VTL excluded which i thought were astonishing) - just to throw something into the mix - try and audition the following: Music First, DNM 3d; Lavardin pre-amp. Test as much as you can. There is also a lot of wisdom in the posts relating to your front end which may have a cd with a very good pre-out already