Line Stage Preamps that blew you away $2500 Edition

Interesting. I woulda thought  this question had previously been discussed in enough detail that there would be no need to ask the question again. But hey! That's what we all love around here, isn't it? I mean, why else would I be joining in on this excellent thread? 

You've got solid recommendations above. But I'd like to refer you to another thread. Go to the top of the amps/preamps forum. Look for the tab that says something like "popular all time". At the top of that tab you'll find the thread "Preamp Deal of the Century" which is all about Supratek preamps (which is what I ended up buying). The "budget" Supratek gets rave reviews, has for twenty years, and is right in your price range.

One other thing. Be warned. Once you get one of these preamps you'll spend a lot more time listening to music and a lot less time reading internet Fora....

Just sayin'!

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

Well, a thought about passives. Theoretically they should sound better than an active, right?

Well, one of the finest builders in the world, Emmanuel Go, the owner, designer and builder of First Sound, started out building passives. I heard one many years ago and it left an indelible impression on me. It was superb. 

He no longer builds passives. Why? Because his active preamps sound better than passives. I'm *not* saying that passives aren't a good way to go. I'm just saying that active preamps *can* sound superb.

Also, I'm not saying that preamps built using miniature 9-pin tubes *can't* sound good. I'm just in the camp of those who prefer the robust, hearty, fully-fleshed out beauty of the 6SN7 tube. Some of the others on this thread also seem to prefer preamps with this tube in the circuit. Hence some of the posts above...