Hpdhondo, I would not worry about getting into tubes because, in my opinion, it's not that big a deal. I have been using tube preamps for twenty years and have never had any problems with them. You may need to replace the tubes occasionally. I have used tube amps for 15 years and have had a tube blow or become noisy a few times and replacing the tube solved the problem. Tube amps require more fiddeling if you have to reset the bias periodically, but tube preamps only require fresh tubes occasionally. I know very little about their innerworkings, I just like the way they play music.
I have a Syrah also; it's a very nice preamp. If you can, go for it.
