Jeff Rowland

"The Bricasti M1 sounds much better direct than the DSD."

That's your reference, so whatever you do, you'll need to compare it so you don't make a backwards move. A preamp is a very personal choice. So whatever is recommended, by me or anyone else, needs to be followed up with a demo. I really can't stress that enough. A preamp is the one component you really can't afford to mess up. Also consider that you have good sound now, going direct with your dac. When you already have good sound, its much easier to make a mistake than an improvement.

I'll start off with 2 recommendations. For solid state, I would look at an Ayre K-5, and for tubes, an Aesthetix Calypso. Those 2 pieces do everything right, and work well with a wide variety of components. Either should go very well with your Rowland.

Onhwy61,
I have a clearly defined vision. I want better separation between instruments and better front to back placement of instruments.How to get there(what's my weakest link) and how much it's going to cost is the question? It may be time to investigate replacing my Aerial 7Ts!

I didn't mean to suggest that you didn't have a vision, but that simply that you hadn't stated it. How to achieve your goals is a very different question than what you asked. It's not guaranteed, but everything you want may be had by different loudspeaker/listener positioning.

Onhwy61,
I'm looking into speakers now. A few on my list are Joseph Audio Perspectives and Dynaudio C2s.

"I want better separation between instruments and better front to back placement of instruments.How to get there(what's my weakest link) and how much it's going to cost is the question? It may be time to investigate replacing my Aerial 7Ts!"

At this level, its not good enough to just pick components. In order to get what you are looking for in the above quote, you must consider at the whole system. One mismatched piece can ruin the systems ability to image properly.

Just to give a real example of what I mean, my system consists of speakers and electronics that excel at imaging, scale, soundstage, etc.. I have this one Jeff Rowland amp, and it doesn't matter what system I put it in. With the Rowland, the imaging goes from 3d to 2d. Its just a good example of why you can't take anything for granted when putting together a high end system. Most people would assume an expensive amp like that would automatically work with no problems.