Audible Illusions modulus 3A, what would be the next level of up grade?

I haven't listened to one in a long time, but my impression is that the 3A is very good. It may be hard to beat for near the same kind of money. It does have a ton of gain which isn't an issue for vinyl, but might make finding a good match amplifier wise more important than finding another preamp that is "better".

If used as a line stage

The best part of any Audible Illusions preamp is their phono section, especially the John Curl MC one.  I was upgrading to a better speaker long ago when I first bought the 2D.  After hearing what I could getting sound improvement from over doubling the cost of $900 speakers back in 1990, I kept hearing such a great difference in the sound with any of their speakers vs. my own setup.  I had a good PS Audio preamp with phono then and brought it back in to Quintessence Audio to listen to it vs. the AI 2D.  The AI just brought the music to life and was very organic and beautiful sounding with every record I played--so much so that I bought the 2D for $800 and had a very significant improvement to my system for a whole lot less than buying the better sounding speakers.   The 3A was just as impressive when I bought it later.

+1 ssand.

I only did a six month stretch and used original equipped tubes. The excuses for what was initially described as a two week all needed parts were on hand repair/upgrade became the most unbelievably lame experience. I even took to using unfamiliar phone numbers to simply get through to them.

It wasn't until I demanded in a registered letter to return my preamp and refund my money when I received the completed unit eight business days later.

After the repair/upgrade it didn't sound any different and the replaced dual mono attenuators had little change in their range as was promised. I listened to it for a few hours and put up for sale. I wouldn't recommend any aspect of that preamplifier or their support.

If I'm not mistaken this was the inspiration and Audibly a huge step up to my ear.

 https://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_3/bruce-moore-companion-iii-preamplifier-7-2003.html

there has been some good feedback and suggestions so far. Interesting experiences as well. Thanks.
I seem to be drawn to the Don Sach pre amp, at the moment.
being a newbie on this site, how do you PM someone?