Fantasy or reality? Inexpensive solid state preamps that get you 80% there?

@doyle3433 No worries. You're about the 40th person to suggest tubes. No one really reads closely, so you're not an outlier on that.

Tortuga has no gain, right? I tried an excellent passive and it was too lifeless.

Thanks for the replies. @petg60 I'm inquiring about things much LESS than 4k euros. This is a lower priced preamp thread.

I prefer tube preamplifiers. This is something with a different sound and/or when I do not want to think about tube life or longer warm up times.

Keep it coming!

@jl35 So Freya S you like -- and Pass is your reference? High praise! Topping, Van Alstine, Odyssey -- great!

$2k for a preamp is inexpensive to some here. I like having that price point to consider, but I'm still most curious about what's $1k or less.

Still listening for other suggestions.

I appreciate replies, but I'm not looking for $2k or $3k or $4k. I'm taking notes of everything mentioned, but in my OP, I discuss looking at Schiit stuff and other inexpensive options.

Also: Some clarifications:

I have two excellent tubed preamps. I prefer them and will use them most of the time. This is for some variety and to give my tubes a break occasionally. 

I know preamps are important.

Thanks for the other rec's!

@tjag To boost signal and volume knob. I have tried an extremely high quality autoformer and it didn't have enough gain. Things were too thin.

@wolfgarcia — that's helpful — I have the same Pass amp.

@audioman58 Thanks for the AudioGD mention. A good friend in Italy has an amazing system and after many trials, settled on AudioGD for his DAC. Very high quality stuff, but not as much PR as some other companies. Good value there, most likely.

@ghdprentice It seems my "80%"  comment is misleading. I would put it this way, instead: "What SS preamp sounds pretty decent as a backup for less that $1k?"

Compare this purchase to shoes you wear around the house. Comfortable, acceptable, but not your best or nicest shoes.

Van Alstine seems to be a good candidate which is above the cheaper stuff (Schiit, Topping) but still way below the others -- Benchmark, SPL, etc. 

Any opinions on the van alstine RB vs. SLR model preamps?

Re: Topping. It seems decent. I liked the comment from Stereophile:

"

Internally, the Pre90 is the very model of a modern analog preamp. It is fully balanced. It increments gain in 0.5dB steps via relays that switch among resistor arrays. Its active stages are based on nested feedback/composite amplifiers (NFCAs), an increasingly popular construct that can deliver extremely low noise and distortion without resorting to complex, bulky circuits or esoteric semiconductors. On paper, it seemed perfect, with two channels of balanced or unbalanced input and output, adjustable gain, and eye-popping specifications. Despite its low cost and small package, the Pre90 shares many characteristics with larger, more complex, more expensive products, including the recently reviewed Benchmark Media LA4/ HPA4 and the Pass Laboratories XP-32.

One limitation to the naked Pre90 is that it provides just one RCA and one XLR input. Topping, though, has a solution in the form of a matching accessory: The Ext90 costs just $249, connects to the Pre90 with an included umbilical, and adds one more RCA and three more XLR input pairs. The Pre90 doesn't provide any adjustment for interchannel (L–R) balance, so if you need that capability, you'll need to find a place for it elsewhere in your signal path."

@yyzsantabarbara Many here are liking the Benchmark. But at $2799 it's not in contention. I appreciate your comments about the Topping. Those comments are more on point.

If I were to consider the Benchmark at close to $3k, then the whole conversation would change. Then folks would point at Pass or Ayre etc. Or to some of the other expensive things already mentioned.

The challenge is really $1k or less, and it's my fault for not putting it more clearly in the OP and I have to keep reminding people skipping around the thread about it. Live and learn.

Just in case anyone has an opinion, I am seeing a Conrad Johnson PF2L PreAmplifier, used for around the price of the Schiit Freya S. Any thoughts on that matchup?

@barts That's a very wise suggestion. That would put me around $2k. Not shabby.

@yogiboy Thanks. That may be a viable route after all my searching/thinking.
@ditusa  Appreciate it! Yes, at $1k Schiit might be it. Now it’s head to head against Van Alstine. Hmmm. Schiit Freya+ vs. Van Alstine RB -- quite the contest.
@audphile1 There’s no chance I’m selling both tube preamps. My tube preamp is quite amazing. Custom built with great parts and inspired by a classic deHavilland model with outstanding 6SN7 tube. But having an SS preamp to match the Pass is interesting. Some don’t think that Pass preamps are really all that great. Many spending in that region much prefer Ayre, and I’d be inclined to try Ayre, first.
@bosssound I like the design and features of Parasound a lot. If I was spending $4k, though, I’d look at Ayre, first.

The Emotiva looks interesting, too.

Thanks to those who've posted additional, useful information.

@pprocter Did you see I’m looking for a solid state preamp? Is the kit you’re recommending both tube and solid state, because it looks like a tube preamp kit.

@tony1954 Yes, it’s almost as if I’m a woman talking to men. "Did she say something?" "I didn’t hear it." For example, the continued recommendations for a Benchmark preamp for $2799. Now, I’m totally never going to buy that thing. Out of spite.

Or people who keep recommending a tube preamp after I have said multiple times that I have two.

@russbutton Great ideas! Thanks. Vintage may be the ticket. I just looked up the Bryston and Hafler and Apt Holman and the reviews are over the moon. What's not clear is what kind of love/repair these might need but thank you for an interesting new angle.

I'm borrowing a DIY unit from a friend. He writes, "It's built with old Burson buffer modules, only has about 3db of gain, a Jos Van Eindhoven relay stepped attenuator with unobtainium low noise Vishay resistors and a overkill linear power supply."

This will likely give me a sense of what something decent might sound like in my system. That might make going ahead with a Bryston or Apt Holman a good idea. I see a couple on USAM right now for not much money.

Aesthetix Calypso  -- is $6k. Not $1k. But you like it -- I get it. 

Did some listening with very nice DIY preamp. Tonalities sounded great, less warm but not sterile; music had a presence but not that same kind of intimacy from tubes. A different kind of intimacy -- an immediacy, more like it. Soundstage depth was pretty much gone, and width was ok but not great for some tunes where tube amps pull things nicely apart a bit in the center. This pre is dead quiet, so that's a plus.

Every pre will be different, I know. But I have to say that what I'm hearing from this preamp, if it's even a little typical, won't make me want to spend too much on a pre. Now, I'm sure that other SS pre's are different and maybe better, so I'm not closing the door. But so far, the best thing about it compared to tube preamps is not having to turn off the power.

@kennyc As I indicated in a number of my responses in this thread, I'm open to new or used. See comments below about some of the better used options people have mentioned. I'm interested to hear your views!

@panerai557  I have an enviable system. It does much of what I want. This thread is about getting a SS preamp that can serve in a subsidiary way, some of the time.

@mrdecibel  Why not go passive? Because I tried it with an exceptional passive autoformer and the results lacked gain and robustness. They were too lifeless in my system.

@avanti1960 
Thanks for your feedback. You list a bunch of tube amps. I'm not interested in tube amps and this is not a thread about tube amps.

Thanks for the additional suggestions, especially the Threshold, which sounds interesting. @avanti1960 your SLP-05 sounds lovely, but I have a tube preamp I like. Does Cary make an SLP in solid state, too? You keep telling me about tube preamps, but maybe you're telling me about a solid state alternative, which is what I'm asking about?

My 6SN7 is very close to the Dehavilland Ultraverve III. It's everything I need in a tube amp, which is why tube amp mentions are totally irrelevant to this thread. 

I remain honestly surprised how well $1500 Nuprime ST 10 sounds (airy,  tuby and enough detailed). 

It's interesting how, for some, the way a solid state preamp is praised is with words like "tuby" -- as if, solid state preamps need to measure up to tube preamps.

I realize that some people use tube preamps as their aesthetic standard for all preamps, but for those who do not, what word best describes a solid state preamp at its best?

@tomcarr Thank you! Exactly what I was hoping for.

@kennyc Which of those are solid state amps? All of them? I hope so, because that’s what this thread is about. And how many are around $1k or less? Thanks for your relevant input.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I've been listening to a very very good DIY preamp and it's not convincing me this is a path worth going too far with. At this point, I really want to try a very very very good SS preamp (maybe try one from TMR for a couple weeks) to really rule it in or out. OR get a cheap backup unit -- Topping or Schiit. Otherwise, the critical listening I've done lately says "don't bother."

@doni Now we're talking! Thank you!

@doyle3433 Is the Rogue RP-1 a solid state preamp? That's the topic.