there are plenty of tube pres w dual outputs. And most pre-amp tubes last a very long time and unless you use NOS tubes, are not that expensive. Also there are some HT bypass units that do not require the pre to be on. For example my Doshi, but there are others.
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.