Best Preamp for me

Mattmiller
Thanks for the info-Will look at Ayre;s and give a tube Mcintosh a look also. Is their a Macintosh you like?
Thanks again
Pete

Matt has made a solid suggestion with McIntosh. Audition a C2500 for a single chassis tubed solution with integral 32/192 DAC or a C500 dual-chassis system (no DAC, but you can get a choice of tube or SS). A final way to go might be the C1000, but that would be a budget stretch. That one can have both tube and SS stages - a sweet solution if you have the scratch and space. Find a premier level dealer and give them all a listen as you might be very pleasantly surprised. Good luck & happy listening!

As long as you are not looking to fix any problems with the upgrade (a good thing in my opinion), then here's a few recommendations.

Solid State: Ayre K5, an ML to match your amp, and maybe a Rowland or McIntosh SS, but with either of those you'll really need to try them in your system first. The Ayre would be my first pick.

Tube: Aesthetix Caplyso, Whatever BAT is in your price range, same thing with ARC but its a must audition in your system. The Aesthetic would be my first pick.

Due to the equipment you list, I left out anything single ended. Also, have you ever tried connecting your Esoteric directly to your amp? I know that you may not want to go without a preamp, but depending on how it sounds direct, may help you select the right preamp.

If you want to stay SS, I would strongly encourage you to try and listen to a Klyne 7 series preamp if you can.

I really like the McIntosh C2300 or C2500 depending on your needs..If your willing to drop some bells and whistles, a Modwright SWL 9.0 used or a new LS100. Also, I really like the Manley Jumbo Shrimp or the Manley labs 300B! What amazing sound! partnered with a great solid state amp like you have would be a great match, keep an eye on impedance matching ..it does matter. the output of the pre should be 10 times or even greater apart than the amps input impedance. Example... 200ohm output from a pre into a 20,000ohm or HIGHER amp input is best to look for.