CATSL1 best pre under 3K?

Jwm and I are neighbors and friends for well over 20 years. Between the two of us we have heard a slew of highly regarded preamps. Jwm had the CAT for a good while then bought a ARC REF 2 and later replaced that with the VAC Signature MK II. In his system the VAC was the better sounding by a good margin in my opinion (none of these were bad however). Jwm's current Absolare Passion is simply wonderful and has eclipsed the excellent VAC. There are many fine preamps available.
Charles,

Granny, the challenge would be interesting. However, I live on the West Coast, so
the distance is a factor. When I heard the Dude it was in a friend's system who
also was using a Counterpoint SA5.1. The Counterpoint was the better sounding
preamp to the Dude that day, IMO.
BTW, I notice that no one here seems to be using analog as a front end...perhaps
that is telling us something.

Hi Daveyf,
If you look at the system page of Jwm you'll see he has a stellar Basis TT
and their top tonearm along with the (ZYX Universe II cartridge) and also
the excellent Aesthetix Romulus Signature CD player. Both make beautiful
music and are "quite resolving" and they easily distinguish
between various components placed in this system very well. I'm a former
analog aficionado(Well Tempered table and arm) and still enjoy listening to
fine analog systems but I find
high quality digital equally pleasing (just depends on the set up) I love my
Yamamoto based digital front end. When comparing the CAT, its line stage
input is judged against other line stages. We're all experienced enough to
know this is really just an interesting discussion revolving around
subjective taste. The OP asked about what's available in his stated price
range. For a little more money an used DUDE or Coincident would IMO be
superb alternatives to the CAT. He has very good options to consider and I
hope I was able to contribute in some small way.It would be best if he could
actually hear these candidates under good system set up conditions.
Reading the comments posted here, he must accept that we all reflect our
individual bias and preferences.
Charles,

Too bad Daveyf. In terms of your friend's system, if he had a power amp that had an input impedance under 60K, that was the issue. Dude as a high(ish) output impedance....poor match. Something was not quite right I am confident. Just been around the block too much on this sonic attribute with preamps.

I use my Romulus cd/dac because I like it better than analog. Others would never use digital based on personal taste.

grannyring
I think u sold your dude a while back , WHY??