Preamps: Rogue v. VTL v. Blue Circle

Try Prima Luna if you get a chance. I had the Prologue and moved up to the Dialogue Premium. They do not come up very often on the used market, which I think is a positive indicator. They use 12au7 tubes which offer a lot of options to tailor the sound without spending a ton of money.

For best sound for a reasonable price: Linear Tube Audio

Some 15 years later, I wonder if the OP had a good choice? 

My Blue Circle 21.1 was spectacular in its time. 

I have to add one of my all time favorite purchases in audio is my CJ Classic 2 SE with my Quicksilver mid mono amps a close runner up.   Both have been super reliable   sound great and were worth every penny. 

@trelja "There is currently a BC3 Despina on auction, here on Audiogon. Believe me when I say that you will be very hard pressed to find a better tube preamp for under $2000. They are an absolute steal on the used market.

The Galatea(same preamp with better power supply), is superior, but the Despina is almost as good."

Well, 15 years have provided me with a lot of perspective when it comes to preamplifiers. Along the way, I’ve run CD direct, used inline attenuators, and used several ARC linestage and full-function, Atma Sphere MP1 and MP3, Audible Illusions, BAT, the Blue Circle BC3 Despina and Galatea, Blue Circle 21 and 21.1, Carver, Cary AES AE-3 DJH, Cary SLP98, a couple of CJ, several Consonance models, DeHavilland, Granite, Manley, PS Audio, SimAudio, Vacuum Tube Valley Ultrasonic, Veloce, and a few more I can’t think of off the top of my head.

In that time, I’ve found in most cases, 6922 tube based products do not suit me well. I find them a bit more bright, hard, and even glassy sounding than I can live with. I’ve wound up mostly liking 6SN7 based preamplifiers best. And in the middle lie the 6H30, 12AU7, 12AX7, 5687, and other tube based units. I also really like running CD direct using a player featuring a tube variable tube output, which one could argue is still a preamplifier.

Overall and quite surprisingly, the two preamplifiers I consider my absolute favorite and best sounding of all of them are the super rare Vacuum Tube Valley (VTV) Ultrasonic, with the Cary AES AE-3 DJH a hair behind it. Strikes against them are neither has an onboard phono stage, though the Cary AES has a partnering unit, and lack of remote control on the VTV. Then again, with LOMC ruling the upper end analog realm, an onboard phono stage often becomes vestigial in these systems. The Cary AES definitely outclassed its bigger brother, the Cary SLP98 with a more immediate, insightful, and natural sound, and again, because of its remote control, many would prefer it to the VTV. Likewise, many would balk at the stupid low prices of these two units, but they’ve shown me yet again how price doesn’t always correlate with performance or happiness