transistor pre with the sound of tubes

Buy a tube dac  black ice audio , with good NOS vintage tubes excellent value ,
or Mht orchid, Lampizator  tube dacs , also a tube preamp is easy and very little maintainence.

Or a hybrid! Rogue RP7 was a great preamp in my system. Just 4 tubes that last a very long time and allowed me to tube roll. In fact, changing just two of the four would influence the sound about 80%. It was my first foray into tubes as I wanted to try that tube touch, but I wanted it simple and low maintenance. The RP7 uses a very common tube which allows many choices in NOS or new manufacture. I now have a line preamp with 12 tubes which is phenomenal, but not maintenance free! Next stop is SS passive and/or DAC direct. This is such a fun hobby!

@bigkidz

+1

funny op post ... i would like my fish dish to taste like beef

Ayre would be the best bet for tube sound. I prefer tube preamp with ss amp. Seems to be the best of both worlds. 

The adcom gfp750 preampliffier with the nelson pass output stage and the passive option would be a good choice but you will have to play it for about an hour before you can evaluate it but it sounds magical on a good solid state amplifier.