I demoed both the Bryston 26 and 17. I have Class' CA M600 amps with Joseph Audio pearl 20/20s. At the time I had a PS Audio Directstream Dac. Bad gain mismatch with my amps and dac. Very little volume control, had to turn the volume down on the DSD to have a little more control. Also lots of noise. I have since gone to the EMM Labs DV2 and PRE. Dead quiet lots of volume control. Bryston amps have a gain of 24 and so does the preamps. My Classe' have a gain of 29. I would pair Bryston amps with Bryston preamps as to not run into a gain mismatch. Bryston will adjust the gain to match certain amps however they don't put that info out.
Bryston preamps
Bryston is renowned for their amps obviously. I have a BP 25 into a 14b3 but have a chance to upgrade now to a BP 26 or 17. Should I instead invest in a tube preamp (5k budget) or stick with bryston for synergy. Audio Advisor has Parasound and Vincent. A forum post I read about the Para sound said it might sound to lean With the bryston. I'm looking to buy new this time around. Thanks for any input. Huh there is the George Lightspeed to ponder.