Preamp... Solid State or Tube

Maybe take a look at Backert Labs Rumba or Rythm pre amps. Also look at Zesto Audio. They too have tubes. 

For solid state, I'd suggest a Classe' Sigma SSP. It can do both surround home theater and two channel. It has a great interface and can be controlled via iPad and iPhone. 

McIntosh C1100, your search is over!

@sergiohm, Looks like with C1100, McIntosh thought of (almost) everything. The decision to exclude decoding of high resolution digital formats – including DSD files is beyond me at this price point.  

At $13K it's out of my budget, but it definitely begs an audition even if I can't afford it :-)

There's too many nice sounding preamps to own anything but a few of them. I've owned a Threshold T3, a Threshold T3i, a BAT VK5i, VK30, VK40, VK20, Forte 4A, Coda 04r, 02, 01p, ARC LS5, just for starters. I preferred the BAT pre's the most, and The Threshold's next, but they were each fabulous sounding preamps, all mated to SS amps from Plinius, to Pass, BAT, on and on. Now I own an Inspire LP2 mated to an Inspire fire bottle KT88 set amp by Dennis Had. So much gear, so little time and money. Over 20 years I've only owned a few products I didn't care for, one being an ARC LS8 I believe the model was...it wasn't here long enough for me to remember the model number...enjoy the listening journey.

I have seen very little feedback in this post about the two pre's you asked about.
I currently own a Calypso in my system , running a direct-stream dac and transport, Mcintosh M1.2 mono amps with Legacy Whispers HD's using AMT version all fully balanced.
For my ears i have not been more pleased at this price point. I have been to a lot of shows and auditioned many B&M stores and have only a few systems similar to my current experience and i must say at a lot higher investment.

I also run HT thru my gear and the Calypso performs flawlessly in two channel and HT. I have performed several different tube rolling efforts and found that it depends on your ears preference to decide tube type.
I an planning on upgrading to the Signature version soon which from what I have read and hear from the community reveals another layer of depth and openness that i find really hard to believe exists, but that is the ghost that this hobby keeps us all chasing.

At your listed price point I would suggest that you may consider a MBL 6010D preamp, occasionally you can get close to this price on Audiogon and IMO this is the pentacle that pre's have to offer, so much to offer although solid state, I had the pleasure of auditioning this pre was so revealing it made you want to take off your shoes and just wiggle your toes, I'm really impressed with this piece of gear but it is far beyond my budget limits, and there will be no need for tubes and other maintenance requirements with this gear.
I'm sure you are aware Aesthetix also has many higher level units, the Calypso is only the entry level.

I have also auditioned Convergent Audio gear in my system as well, this brand needs no introduction, but only offers rca as a standard , you can gat balanced upon ordering.
I also performed an AB comparison to the Calypso and the SL1 MKll they were surprisingly close to each other almost no difference in presentation , for the money the Calypso was my choice and I have been extremely happy with this choice.
I think the suggestion about attending the Axpona show was a very good idea,  Modright is always there,  The amount of feedback you get at these shows are priceless though,  good luck on your quest to getting as close as you can to real thing.