Creek Destiny Integrated vs. Current Aragon System

Following up on Sfar's advice -- you can get some of the tube magic by mixing a tube preamp with a solid state amp. Solid state amps like McCormack DNA-125 with high input impedance generally offer best match for tube preamp -- I've owned a DNA-125 with conrad-johnson (PV10 and PV12) and Eastern Electric Minimax tube preamps -- really nice combinations, both musical and powerful. I'm not sure how well your Aragon amp would get along with a tube pre.

Another suggestion -- buy a used Naim Nait 5i integrated -- see Robert Harley's Absolute Sound review, which gets it right (google "naim nait harley review" and go to the PDF posted by one-hifi dot com). I have been very happy with my Nait 5i -- it has changed the way I listen to music. I'm no longer constantly trying new combos of amps and preamps -- just enjoying listening because it sounds right. (I've owned Creek integrateds, but the smaller ones, not the Destiny, so I can't compare to the Nait 5i.)

Buy a used Nait 5i for a good price on Audiogon (they have been going for ca. $850 - 950 depending on condition). Treat it well. If you don't like it, you can sell it at minimal loss. These amps hold their value, for good reason.

You might also go to the Naim forum. You will need to register to search but it's easy to do. Not all posters to the forum are proselytizers for Naim -- you can usually get opinions from a variety of perspectives. Here's the URL (substitute period for [dot]):

http://forums [dot] naim-audio.com/eve