Line Stage Preamps that blew you away $2500 Edition

Reiterating the superb value of the $2500 Rogue Audio RH-5 linestage / headphone amp.  An exceptionally clean, dynamic sound.

*Two 12AU7

*XLR input and output, a true balanced design. 

*Dual transformer Linear Power Supply.

*Stereophile Class A

*3-way adjustable gain. 

*Superb lifetime support from Rogue Audio. 

Find a used Sonic Frontiers, SFL-1 for under a grand and play around with tubes - will shock you. Spend a little more and get a Manley, Shrimp. Have 1st hand experience with both of these playing tube amps and SS. Each are equally rewarding. Both a bit colored but in exceptional ways - match amps accordingly and you'll really enjoy the experiences the provide. Just my opinion. 

The Doug Sach's 2, DS2 should be in that price range and using 6SN7 tubes it is one awesome preamp. Doug has managed to master quiet power so that it doesn’t get in the way of the sound, and has found components that has the most minimal impact on the sound. After a lifetime of modifying Harmon Carden Citation and Macintosh equipment he found a design that is superior to those venerable tube component manufacturers. I have had too many preamps. Put Linlie E6SN7 tubes in the output stage and the preamp appears to disappear. He'll also match the outputs impedance to up to 2 amplifiers. 

@gochurchgo 

live anywhere near NC ?  I’d lend you some to try out …   the sys might give you a taste, but it’s not going to paint the best picture..

I used a direct connection from my DAC to my amp, adjusted the volume via JRiver software in 64 bit mode, plenty of LSB to throw away that doesn’t affect the music.. To give me a taste of “purity” before buying my current passive. The problem I had was not being able to control the volume unless everything passed through the JRiver software. So my streaming didn’t have any volume control and no flexibility to connect other components..  That taste of purity and simplicity was enough to send me on a deep dive into a proper passive..  My next project will be to turn my TVC Django into an autoformer configuration by using only the secondary winding and the taps, but it won’t handle my balanced input like my current TVC. Saving that for when I get bored as my system now sounds really good to my tastes..

Well, a thought about passives. Theoretically they should sound better than an active, right?

Well, one of the finest builders in the world, Emmanuel Go, the owner, designer and builder of First Sound, started out building passives. I heard one many years ago and it left an indelible impression on me. It was superb. 

He no longer builds passives. Why? Because his active preamps sound better than passives. I'm *not* saying that passives aren't a good way to go. I'm just saying that active preamps *can* sound superb.

Also, I'm not saying that preamps built using miniature 9-pin tubes *can't* sound good. I'm just in the camp of those who prefer the robust, hearty, fully-fleshed out beauty of the 6SN7 tube. Some of the others on this thread also seem to prefer preamps with this tube in the circuit. Hence some of the posts above...