Biggest impact: moving from integrated to separates

Remember XLR does not equal balanced. Two seperate, but related, items. Are you saying you have 6k to buy seperates or 3k to spend on your next upgrade?

@asp307 I too was once an integrated only guy. I felt the synergy of a 1 box solution and the ability to avoid complications with an extra interconnect outweighed the benefits of seperates. I was completely wrong.... : ) you will never look back from seperates, it's just more expensive. Now how best do we spend your 3k..... Your current integrated, are you able to run it as an amp only with an external preamp?

Just for fun do some research on the bigger VAC "instruments".

This looks to be an easy decision to me. I would look for a dedicated line stage as your next step. Do you want new or is used ok? Remember you will need 

Where are you located? It really is best to work with a dealer who lets you take home gear for in home demo. I've actually set a rule for myself that I can't by any expensive gear without hearing it in my system first as system synergy is very very important. But I'm lucky to have many dealers close by. Well the rule is mostly enforced : )))

The dealers also have demo gear that you can negotiate very well on. 

Some other thoughts
-Thoughts on the new Pass xp-12?
-I'm not a big fan of the expensive McIntosh preamps but the newer c47 is a great piece and you would get a good DAC. 
- with the c47 you could do a fun shootout with your new pass phono.
- an older Ayre preamp would be very nice
- my personal favorite and this would be tough to do for price range but not impossible. VAC makes an entry level line stage that really impressed me when I had it home for a 2 week demo. I liked it so much I bought one of their more $$$$ lines stages. This would be a tough deal though because of your budget. But if you could find a dealers demo with no phono and you come up some extra $ ....

The Mac c47 is a good piece, I actually own one. A benefit you also get a decent DAC and an "ok" phono. I'd love to hear about a comparison of it vs your Pass phono. : )

I bet you can find a dealer within an hour or 2 that has a c47 you can in home demo. Also try the find a dealer section on the pass website, you might have someone closer than you think who carries something like an xp-10. I found a pass dealer 40minutes from my house this way recently.

Keep your eyes open for one of those small VACs I sent, that will destroy all these.