Used Audio Research Preamp Options

Don't get short term satisfaction with long-term disappointment.  Get the better-sounding preamp up front.  For the $2500, there are few, if any, really great new preamps.  There are some used line stages in that price range that some people, like.  My preference in a used line stage is the Herron Audio VTSP-1 with all the latest mods.  If available, it should cost a bit less that $2500.  IMO, it is better than any of the ARC preamps of its production period (through 2008 or so) and among a short list of top performing preamps regardless of cost. 

If you can scratch out a little more money, my opinion is that the Herron Audio VRSP-3 (R03) is as good as it gets.  I have never heard better regardless of cost.

So the question becomes....  Is it the music or the cosmetics / glamour you're really after? 

ARC pre-amps have acquired amongst audiophiles an aura of assumed superiority, don’t you think? Yet many of their owners never seem to be content, continuously and repeatedly upgrading. I've heard all the rationalizations, but you don't see it with other pre-amp brands.

At the risk of showing my ignorance, I went ahead and hooked up first my CD player and then my Bluesound Node wireless DAC directly t my MC2200. I put those two separate gain controls on the amp to use and the sound quality is quite good, maybe even a tad better than with the NAD preamp in between. I left it with the Bluesound for now since most of my listening is from Tidal or some college radio stations. So assuming I have no need for two of the preamp's main functions; volume control and source switching, would my $2500 buy me better sound if spent on an preamp or elsewhere on the audio path?

May be I should start a new thread to ask a different question. But in the meantime, where I stand: I spent a good part of the day experimenting with different configurations and I've now confirmed that I can directly connect either my CD player or the Bluesound Node 2 wireless DAC to my MC2200 and get plenty - actually more than my ears can handle, of volume. Between the gain controls on the MC2200 and the volume control on the Bluesound mobile app, I have no gain/volume issues. The obvious issue is I can only use one source at a time. Should i now be looking for a passive preamp our do I just need to get so sort of a "switch" to select the desired source? If so, this begs the question why more folks take this route and spend mega bucks on a (active) preamp. Does a "good" preamp add to sound quality - soundstaging, imaging, etc., above a direct connection? Sorry if I'm asking the obvious but I was caught a bit off-guard discovering that I could even run my system without a preamp. Thanks as always for your great input.