Tubes or Solid State?

Send me your MF and I'll upgrade the unit to sound better  than anything you can purchase for $1200 and up.  Those old units are nice but really nothing special to what an upgrade can do.  Next while I agree a separate CD Transport and DAC is superior sounding budget ones do not beat higher priced stand alone units.  You can buy a marantz cd-94 and it will probably provide superior sound to almost all budget cheaper combos.   Happy listening 

I recently bought a Cayin tube amplifier, at 1/2 price it was too good to miss. Having multiple systems I figured I would use it somewhere. My other systems have Vincent pre /power class A hybrid and Naim Uniti as amps.  It took 1 day to place the Cayin in my dedicated stereo room. My Audio Physic speakers, renowned for soundstage, are truly awesome with valves. I did change from KT88's to EL34's and much prefer the balance and particularly the bass.  Don't be fooled 38 watts is more than enough to drive 89 dB / 4 ohm speakers. 

@bigkidz I have three MF units plus a DAC, do you mean the M2si?
I am more than happy with my Audiolab CDT/V-90 DAC combo. It's a big improvement over my Cambridge Topaz Unit.
There was an SPL Elector for sale here for $1850.00 And a Phonitor Pre/Headphone amp for $1500, both are tempting.Neither are tubes. It certainly is intriguing given the dynamic range and signal to noise ratio specs. It's even the right color too!
@henry53 I'm not looking to replace my solid state power amp. I'm looking for a tube pre amplifier only. I'm not about to go down the rabbit hole of tube power amps. No thank you.

Definitely look into the Linear Tube Audio MZ2 that is not only a great tube preamp but also an outstanding headphone amp.  Even with the optional remote control and upgraded Linear Power Supply (that is really not optional as it ups the performance significantly) it’s right near your price target at $2160, and the tubes last forever.  Best of luck. 
https://www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/mz2mz2-s

soix, thanks.