Looking for warm tube preamp (should pair well with Pass power amp), budget $6000

@smodtactical 

It seems most people want neutrality.

Maybe they want to want neutrality…they want to want “the mic feed in the studio”. The reality is far different. I want to lose track of time, I wan to listen for long periods without dissecting the sound, to stop fretting over the gear. Its almost like many in the hobby (I have been guilty as well) want to buy a salty dish, tame the saltiness with an extremely unsalty preamp or dac or cables, etc, etc. Its really hard to guess, especially without demos. Why is it so hard to get this right? They are random interactional outcomes.

Aric likely designs his preamps and amps to interact wonderfully together. Audio Note is a fine example. Shindo as well. How many posts do we see where some says “ Iheard some amazing speakers, I just melted…but I got them home and they dont sound right. “  Take a system approach, respect the designers intent and buy with this in mind. Far too many want to force a fit…the sooner we abandon the bolt on tweakiness, the sooner we find audio happiness.

@smodtactical 

@ghdprentice 

I’ve owned the Ref5se three times through the years, simply an extraordinary preamp that bridges the gap between the ARC of yesteryear and the ARC of today. In fact, I preferred it to the Ref6.

I have also owned in the past several versions of the Shindo Aurieges and Monbrison preamps including the most recent versions of the Monbrison and Aurieges. What amplification and speakers are you planning on using? In addition, I haven’t owned a vinyl setup in years and it never bothered me that my preamp had a phono stage. It won’t hold you at gunpoint and force you to get a turntable nor will it refuse to work if you don’t LOL. 

The current version of the Aurieges exceeds the performance of the previous Monbrison in my opinion and may be one of the great values in high end preamplifiers, however, it all depends on you amplification and cabling. When matched appropriately, there is simply nothing like the Shindo sound. When NOT matched appropriately, you will wonder what all the fuss is about.

The comment about Shindo not being appropriate for rock and roll is incorrect. A properly configured and set up Shindo system just plays music exeptionally well. It isn’t euphonic, it just sounds like music. It doesn’t “bloom”, it just gets tone, texture and tempo better than most anything. Full disclosure: I have owned alot of gear through the years and there is alot of great gear out there. I enjoy Audio Note and Shindo and Leben. 

@smodtactical 

I found the ref5se was a more visceral, tactile preamp with a little more flesh. I also disliked strongly the volume on ref6 which came on entirely too strong out of the gate. Zero was no sound, 10 was VERY loud. Its my understanding the ref6se update addressed this.

I’m not so sure Shindo and NS5000’s have ever been in the same system LOL. Did I miss your amplification in a prior post? In any case, I doubt anything I could add to the discussion would be of value as I have no familiarity with with your interconnects or speakers. Shindo shines when properly matched but I can’t imagine Shindo and Yamaha coexisting harmoniously.