I believe Kalali is right on the money , i have a Adcom gfa 555 mk 2 and paired it with a ss audio research ls3 and later a rogue audio perseus magnum preamp (tubed) retubed w/ nos holland amperex bugel boy 12au7 , and boy did that ever liquidate the music thru the adcom, also connected my B&K 442 amp to both preamps, again the tubed preamp creamed the ss preamp in midrange up thru highs. Poor mans james bond stereo ! By the way i long ago owned a gfp 750 mosfet adcom preamp paired with 4 nad 214 amps in strap mono thru a pair of paul barton psb stratus gold spkrs, that was my first dive into uh hum high end audio, for a very poor man at the time. Had a micromega stage 5 cd player and a rotel rcd 950 , the micromega was better, but the rotel fooled me for the 1st and even 2nd listen , but the micromega just had better midrange , rotel more boom and sizzle which sounds enticing at first.