How much do I need to spend to get a preamp that sounds better than no preamp?

@kosst_amojan,I used Signal Cable's Silver Resolution as well as Clear Day cables for the BT unit, not the ones that came with the unit.
@georgehifi ,I have nothing against passives. In fact I have been using TVC for the past 9 years. You bring up Nelson Pass's statement that we have enough gain in today's sources to drive power amplifier. Yet he keeps coming with new preamps. There must be some reason for that - besides the "making money factor". I feel that audio is a personal choice and "how" a system sounds is a personal preference. With my upgraded loudspeakers, I am tempted to try a active in my system. Why? Because my new loudspeakers have better resolution. And I am hearing stuff that my old speakers never showed before. I would like to see how an active preamp works in my system.

Back to the original q - I had to pay ca 4 k dollars  to get a preamp better than the direct input from my Aesthetix Io phono stage. Einstein The tube mk 2. Bought second hand. Have not looked back.

Great post, Joe (Trelja). A pleasure to read an uncommonly nuanced, balanced, and well written post about controversial audio matters.

Regarding sonic differences between rectifiers of a given type, btw, I believe that what accounts for those differences in many and very possibly most cases is simply that their voltage drops vary significantly among different makes and vintages. Resulting in corresponding differences in the DC voltages that are applied to the audio stages.

Best regards,
-- Al

OP, funny, I just posted a similar discussion on AA. I have a Parasound P5, and was thinking time to upgrade, but my system is balanced throughout, and there's not much available under under $4K. Then I came across a W4S STP E on 10 Audio and started investigating and checking the used market. Then it dawned on me that after I did two aftermarket DIYs from ebaye replacing the oem iec wire harness with a Furutek Rhodium IEC with silver wire, THEN replacing the oem power supply with a beefy toroid board @  $118.00. I connected my 105 directly to my Emerald Physics 100.2SEs and was gobsmacked, BUT I think a big part of the smacking is because all are plugged into a Core Technologies 1800, an amazing passive PLC..  

you went off half-cocked, and initiated a thread on Stereophile no longer performing measurements even though it was completely incorrect.

Are you serious!!! (is this because I asked if you were a fuser.) that’s not even worth a response, but I will, as I asked a legitimate question as John Atkinson’s response shows??? And the measurements/test were not done with two reviews.
I simply asked "Tests???????"
https://www.stereophile.com/comment/574783#comment-574783


JA Quote: "It wasn’t possible for Larry Greenhill, who now lives in California, to ship this amplifier to New York in time for me to measure it.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile


Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-no534-power-amplifier#Ibp132Sl19pHjucP.99

Cheers George