Preamp dillema for McCormack Ultra Platinum

I have owned both the RLD-1 (with SMc Platinum-Level upgrades) and my current TLC-1 with SMc Signature upgrades (the best Steve can do).  The upgraded TLC-1 is clearly several leagues above the RLD-1 IMO.  The RLD-1 Platinum had oodles of drive but was otherwise forgettable with the equipment I had at the time.  OTOH, the TLC-1 Signature is the best preamp I have owned, out of many.  FWIW, my TLC-1 is run in unity-gain with a buffered output, is powered by an outboard choke power supply (from the SMc VRE-1), and is balanced using very high quality Lundahl transformers.  Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how the stock versions of those preamps sound but if you purchase one you will always have the option of upgrading later. 

This DNA-1 is setup for unbalanced inputs so the input impedance is 100K ohms. My current setup sounds really good, but I want to say there seems to be a very, very slight attenuation or just something missing in the neighborhood of 500 Hz. Perhaps that's just the signature B&K sound...it's not bad by any means, but if I had to put my finger on something, I would start there. Also the upper treble, mainly with the higher register of female vocals, it can sound slightly pitchy for lack of better terms.

It's hard to find the exact fault in my setup but for the sake of discussion, I would say I would like to smooth out the midrange and bring a tiny bit of warmth to the upper treble while maintaining detail and clarity.

Right now I have an Intenso feeding the Ref 50 then into the DNA-1. Instrument and vocal separation is excellent as well as vocal clarity...just seems to reach a little too high at times.

The Ref 50 does not have an analog pass through, "direct" mode I'm fairly sure it will still perform an analog-dig-analog conversion despite removing all tonal and Eq controls.

I agree $1500 is on the low side, but looking for an interim preamp until I can make a larger jump.

Hope that helps.

Well, there's a Hegel P20 and a Pass X2.5 available here now in your price range that I'd think would both be a nice improvement in refinement over your Ref50 (and at least get rid of the unnecessary ADA processing -- EEK!).  For a little more and moving to tubes there's an Audio Research LS17, or for again a little more there's a VAC Standard LE that could be a really nice sonic match for what you're looking for.  Obviously check that these work with your DNA1 -- I'd look for a bit under 10kOhms output impedance just to be safe.

Just FYI and FWIW, I'm looking at a Sachs SP14 (about $2k stock) or a Backert Rhumba 1.2 (one here now for $2400 I wish I could buy -- dammit).  Looking forward to what a little tube magic can do in front of my SMc amp.  Anyway, hope this helps and best of luck. 

Thanks for that, I will look into them. I would like to think my VTL 2.5 would work the way I want but this one has 20db of fixed gain.