Preamps can color sound considerably. Surprising?

In my experience preamplifiers are as impactful as a source.  I added a McIntosh C2600 versus a NAD C375 BEE integrated AMP and it was very noticeable and frankly reinvigorated my listening habits.

Guess a lot of it is how the harmonics are handled. Tubes being a lot less harsh then solid state.

Absolutely. And this shouldn't be too surprising - you can roll single parts like caps and hear a difference, so why wouldn't whole different preamps sound different too?

At my home audio playground I have 3 relatively high end (not ultra-fi) preamps, 3 amps, 2 phono stages, many cartridges and SUTs. Each component has its own distinct sonic fingerprint. When I take a component to my buddy’s system - very different room & system - the sonic fingerprint follows. Cables have this too, but to a lesser degree. Different combinations of components obviously adds to the variability and complexity - some are surprise combinations that work better than expected, and others that are worse.

The so-called implications of this don’t bother me a bit - I’m not in the pursuit of "ultimate truth" like some self-important amateur philosopher. I’m seeking different and better audio experiences for my personal musical enjoyment. My experience with great-measuring darlings of the ASR crowd (Benchmark, RME) has been bad, so I don’t even care if that represents "truth" - it sounds bad to me and I don’t want it.

There are members here, who have experience behind the glass in a studio.

Those ears, are maybe the only qualified to comment on audiophool  "sonic truth."

"Absolute Sound".... whatever

Putting together a setup that pleases one's ears is the goal-IMO.

 "Tubes color sound as well."

If you listen to pre 80's recordings, there's tubes in instrument amps, possible vocalist mic preference AND studio that contribute to the actual sound of the recording. Why would tubes in the playback equipment attempting to reproduce it "color" it in a less convincing way?

So I was lucky enough to compare a few preamps and this would’ve been really really helpful before I bought mine.

But at the time, the preamps I wanted to purchase were not available at dealers and if this was the case highly unlikely I could compare them with other preamps that would also need to be available. So what everyone seems to be left with is taking a chance hoping that it will sound OK. Because each component is colored so much, the marketing materials in all their glory are only good for seeing what’s the thing looks like.

You order a very very expensive preamp from a dealer who doesn’t have it on hand, and some do, and then you take delivery and convince yourself it was wonderful.

I have never liked dealers having to buy all of the equipment before selling. It would be nice if manufacturers furnish these items but I understand this may not be practical. Dealers would love to have the stuff and they could probably sell a lot more of it if they did.

So direct to customer sales from manufacturers would seem a very worthwhile outcome toward greater success.

Lots of the time you call up the manufacturer and talk to them and then decide to buy it and have the paperwork processed for a drop ship or whatever, by the dealer.