Help selecting a new preamp

For for SS, for the money the Musical Fidelity M6 Pre is back and at $2K is a stupidly good value with a strong phono stage.

The Art Audio Conductor Simply 2 is $5500 and brilliant. It has switchable gain and can be customized to your needs. It uses the same circuit as the Conductor but lacks the tape loop and headphone amp that the Conductor has.

It is a clear step up from the PS Audio BHK despite being a little less expensive because of the lack of the headphone amp and the fact that Art Audio is direct in the US so there is only the retail margin, not retail and wholesale.

I can arrange for you to hear the Conductor if you are in NYC, Boston or Philly. Otherwise it is a 30 day in-home demo on either and I have flexibility on both.

Let me me know if you are interested.  I will even take your Outlaw on trade for either.

I was lucky to find a used Einstein The tube mk2 for 4k. No looking back. May be hard to find though. 

I will not mention the 2 top tier preamps I had, because I do not believe in embarrassing companies, or others, who own them. I have been experimenting with passive pre's for over 25 years, and, thanks to georgehifi, I started again with an interest in passive. In 2017, I purchased a Luminous Audio Axiom II, Walker Mod, 3in, 2 out, single ended, with remote, and am extremely pleased with its " invisibility " of the unit. My priorities are, to hear my music without added warmth, coloration, editorializing, and allow my sources to run free. It truly shows the recorded music faithfully, and I hear what was done by the artists, mixing and mastering engineers, in the utmost natural ways. Some people love passive, some do not. I obviously do. Good Luck. Enjoy ! MrD.

At your price level the Linear Tube Audio Micro ZOTL is definitely worth a serious look. Teajay (a member here) did a nice review of it on 6moons, and he preferred it to the Backert Rhumba (not sure which version) and every other preamp he’s heard. I’d also second the Don Sachs preamp, which would be less than half the cost of the LTA pre. Both would be a huge upgrade over the Outlaw (as would the Backert for that matter). Best of luck.