I heard a lot of preamps, and only a few are excellents preamps. Among the SS preamps the new Connoisseur 4.2 surely is the best with Vitus,Viola, Boulder series 2000, MBL,CTC, FM and Burmester very near, and probably only reyaudio preamp is equal or better than Connoisseur.
But for me the best preamps, or better the preamps that are more easy to work with , are the tube preamps, they are less expensives than the best SS preamps, because as there are so many few excellents SS preamps they are very expensives.
Among the tube preamps there are many gems: Kondo M-1000,emotive audio epifania and Messenger are for me the very best, but Callisto and VAC are very near and a little behind are ARC ref3, EAR, VTL 7.5, ACT 2
But for me the best preamps, or better the preamps that are more easy to work with , are the tube preamps, they are less expensives than the best SS preamps, because as there are so many few excellents SS preamps they are very expensives.
Among the tube preamps there are many gems: Kondo M-1000,emotive audio epifania and Messenger are for me the very best, but Callisto and VAC are very near and a little behind are ARC ref3, EAR, VTL 7.5, ACT 2