Best Preamp for me

We have similar eclectic musical tastes. I also have a Levinson (331), Transparent cables throughout and use Wilson Sophia 3 speakers. I went with the McIntosh C2500 and am very pleased. Not only do the tubes add musicality, but the preamp has a great DAC and is a swiss army knife of connectivity to future proof your system. It's also just inside your price range. You could also look at AR preamps. They're also excellent. Mark

Lots of great input Thank You all
Pete

Hi Pete, Seeing you don't need a phono section, The K-03 has a fantasic low output impedance (47ohm rca & 100ohm xlr) at 2.45v, that will drive anything perfectly without any added colourations that a preamp will introduce, you should give it a try first before spending up big on a preamp to see if you like the uncoloured sound it will give.

" Esoteric’s K-03 SACD/CD player and DAC ($13,000 USD), is one of their newest models of this type. In fact, it also contains a 32-bit internal volume attenuator that permits it to be connected directly to an amplifier."

Cheers George

Georgelofi
Is the Esoteric K-O3 and the K-O3X the same?

They look the same, specs look the same, weight is the same, the K-03X is only mentioned in Japan, some times they do this, it maybe a new tweaked version, of the K-03.

Cheers George