Preamps waste of money?

Kijanki, I used to own the Hyperion 938s, one of my favorites. I think I was the first to own a pair in the US having purchased them in 2004. I miss them, but to big for me. I would buy them again if my back wasn't so messed up. I have to say the 938s sound great with tubes and smooth SS.

I prefer an amp which is just a touch on the warm side of neutral. On 1 to 10 scale, 1 being sterile and bright, 5 being neutral, and 10 being overly warm/ripe, I prefer 6. Just because more recordings error on the lean side.

Dracule1, Hyperions are really sad story. Company had absolutely great innovative product with many awards to practically fold the business down. They had poor dealership base, poor customer support, no marketing etc. I was lucky to still get it. With neutral sounding class D amp (Rowland 102) it is a little on the warm side but it sounds great even on lean/bright records. I need a little more highs (air) but it might be room acoustics (reverberation) or class D limitation. Midrange is to die for while bass is tuneful with very realistic attack and decay.

Kijanki,
Agree, I don`t want an amp to add anything.I just want it to sound natural and realistic as possible.
Regards,

Yes Kijanki, the Hyperions have one of the best midrange of any speaker I've heard, including electrostats and ribbon speakers. Their spiderless drivers are unique. They haven't folded yet. I might end up getting a pair of the 968s.

But getting back to the subject of this thread, I'm not sure one can ever determine if his preamp is "neutral" unless he was at the recording session and all his other components in the chain are neutral. Essentially an impossibility for most of us. All we have is our subjective opinion as to what we think is neutral. In that respect, my current amp with stepped attenuator is as neutral as I have heard.