Best Pre-amp under 7k

I'll just say to the previous person posting that the Ultimate is not an upgrade product. That is, you cannot update any previous CAT preamp to the Ultimate. You have to go out and put down your $5950 to get one. So I guess that would qualify it to be considered a separate product from any of the previous CAT's, and that would make CAT no different from any of the manufacturers which Mr. Cardinal reveres, in the sense all they did is put out a new product. That said, I think there have been 5 or 6 CAT preamplifiers in the 15 or 16 years that CAT has been making them. With most of them, there was an upgrade path. I have heard several different models and they are all fine products in their own right and can hold their own with any of the top products today. I'll leave it to others to determine if those are too many upgrades in the last 16 years.

Best Preamp for hi-rez with line level only :Spectral DMC-30 for around $6500. Beats any Levinson with my electrostats. For phono listen to an Aesthetix phono preamp with volume
control, you will be impressed.

Try to listen to a Placette if you can. It's an entirely different direction from the tube preamps mentioned above, and while it may not be what you ultimately choose, I expect it will be a revelation.

Rayhall...I was going through your posts on the Callisto thread, did you get a chance to hear it? I too am in the market for a reference level pre..I had a CAT S1 mk3 and it was awesome, only drawback.single-ended only, but I'm over that now. If you've heard the Callisto, I'd much appreciate if you could compare it to the CAT..thanks, John.

The Aloia preamp is a step-up from the CAT at about 3500 retail but will be raising their prices.