What qualities stand out in really good solid state preamps?

Really great thread thanks to you all!

@dekay  Those kits look very interesting! I've heard more than once that best bang for buck is DIY.
@yogiboy  I have tried a very high quality passive preamp built via intact audio -- https://intactaudio.com/atten.html 
Didn't add enough ooomph.

@sns  Thanks so much for your descriptive account of the comparison between your tube, preamp and the Pass labs preamp. I do not believe I will come up with a better preamp than the 6SN7 preamp, which is serving me so well right now. What I really want is a utility infielder that does a really good job when I'm taking a break from tubes or when I want something very neutral so that I can clearly hear the amplifiers and the other equipment in the system. I have heard very good things about threshold, which is also a pass designed product.

@tomic601  Great additions to the vocabularly list: "dynamic relief, attack, slam, immediacy, air around harmonics,...the ability to pick out individual voices in mass chorale, to discern the long reverberant space of the venue"
The analogy with wine is an apt one. These are cases where the vocabulary almost necessarily exists at a too-remote gap from the experience itself. And yet anybody who is an audio file, has had to try to compare different things and come up with words that they could use as benchmarks, as reference points, as they are trying to sum their evaluations into a judgment about whether X or Y is better, or which fits this or that system, room, or mood. You have definitely moved the ball down the field!

@elliottbnewcombjr  What a great audio history you've had! Thanks for relaying that -- a gold mine of interesting tidbits!

@sameyers1  Your input is probably pushing me, personally, to just wait for an Ayre to at least audition. It reminds me of some really famous other pieces people mention over and over with 100% superlative praise. I'm pretty sold, now, on Ayre as a preamp to try.

@hilde45 I'm glad you found my post about my experience with my Ayre K-5emp helpful. I have a few questions for you? Why are you interested in a solid state preamp? What sonic characteristics are most important to you in an audio system? What are the sources, amp and speakers that make up the rest of your system?

I ask these questions because the answers might suggest other preamps I've auditioned that you might find of interest. Also, there are many who prefer a tube pre-amp with a solid state amplifier, including Dan Wright, the founder and owner of Modwright, whom I respect and who produced the tube phono stage that I own.

@sns - I had mentioned Pass Labs also.  I was wondering since you said your other preamp was upgraded and had some modification by you.  What were they?  As an repair service, I would imagine that we could upgrade the Pass with a few choice parts and make that preamp even better for a SS unit.

Happy Listening.

RE: non-clicking volume control - the problem is that you waste a lot of what the preamp circuit can do. The only way to get the most from your preamp is to use the volume control to control gain. That means resistors. All the best resistors are discrete, so you need to select different resistors for each volume level. This means clicks.

There is a reason why Kondo does it that way.