I think adding a tubed preamp will give you the qualities you are searching for. In addition to the ARC, Bat, and Conrad, you might also consider Atma Sphere, and VTL. The Atma Sphere comes with an excellent phono section (optional) which put it ahead of some others for me.
Best preamp for my system.
I am looking to upgrade my preamp, and am looking for advice from experienced audio people. I am currently running an Emm Labs CD player into a Levinson 380S and then the Levinson 33H's and on to the Genesis 4 tower speakers. All signals running through Gabriel Gold Rapture IC's. What I like is a real lush sound, vocals being most important with respect to accuracy. Some preamps that I am considering are the ARC reference and Lamm Reference.......but am open to suggestions if a serious upgrade from my 380S can be had for less than those two expensive units.