Help recommend a good tube preamp


I am looking for recommendations for a good, fully balanced tube preamp (< $4k - $12k) for my system:

DAC: Holo May

Power amp: Hegel H30 (input impedance (balanced / XLR) = 25k ohms)

Speakers: Focal Maestro Utopia III

Room: 20ft X 21ft

Music: mostly jazz / classical. Some classic rock.

Preamps tried before: McIntosh C2600, Hegel P30, Holo Serene, Rogue RP5

Constraints: output impedance should not be high (as my amplifier’s input impedance is quite low)

I tried C2600 (but with different amp / speakers).

Recently, I tried Rogue RP5 - sounded great but it does not have XLR out (H30’s unbalanced input impedance is a measly 9.6 kilo ohms). So, a natural recommendation would be the Rogue Audio RP7 - except that in the Stereophile review’s measurements section, John Atkinson recommends not using the pre with amps with less than 30k input impedance (affects low frequency response).

 

Thanks.

Ag insider logo xs@2xreg19

Atmasphere and ARC are fully balanced and fit well with your sound profile. 

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Might take a look at the Bryston BP 17 cube. balanced impedance is 4.5kΩ. 

@jbuhl That is very high output impedance - too high for me to use

What preamp are you using now, and what kind of sound characteristics/improvements are you looking for?

@soix The details are in the 1st post. I have used C2600 (Mac) and Rogue RP5. Liked both - particularly the RP5 sound. Both use the same tubes.

+1 for the Backert Labs Rhythm 1.3 with NOS RCA 12SN7 GTA. Replaced my ARC Reference 6 SE with it and couldn’t be happier.

@markmuse How would you describe the difference between the two preamps you mentioned? I like that the gain is just 9db and it does have a low output impedance.