My opinion is of value only to myself and do not question others tastes. My need for a preamp is for 2 reasons. I listen to a lot of FM radio on the airwaves with 3 tuners (not streaming FM). I also found that all DAC volume controls were of lesser quality than the Benchmark LA4 and now the Holo Serene preamps, especially at low volume. I was thinking at one time of buying the Luxman c900u preamp but realized that I would tire of the added sonics.
I have gone through a lot of amps in the past few years and my fav are the CODA#16, KRELL Duo XD lineup, and the Benchmark AHB2. All of these amps sounded best via a preamp that I felt did not add to the sound. There are a few people on A'gon doing the same as me but with what seems like much more expensive amps.
I used to have the CODA 07x preamp, which people love and say sounds like tubes. It was OK for me but irritating in some ways, so I went back to the 1/3 the cost LA4 preamp. I have not been bothered with the sound since and have no need to ever change this preamp. This is paired with the great CODA #16 amp.