With preamps and power amps, keeping with the same creator/manufacturer is often very advantageous because they were designed to compliment one another. A few such pairings that show obvious benefits would be with Atma-Sphere or Lamm.
With the former, there are advantages that go beyond sonic matching and in this case, one can separate an Atma-Sphere preamp (and entire front end (source gear) from their power amplifiers by up to 50 feet with a common (cheap) Mogami XLR IC with absolutely no sonic detriment.
This is not to say that there are are not some very magical matches of different components.
Happy Listening!
With the former, there are advantages that go beyond sonic matching and in this case, one can separate an Atma-Sphere preamp (and entire front end (source gear) from their power amplifiers by up to 50 feet with a common (cheap) Mogami XLR IC with absolutely no sonic detriment.
This is not to say that there are are not some very magical matches of different components.
Happy Listening!