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

After my research currently im focused on either a Shindo or CJ. It seems one of these will give me the warmth and euphonics I am looking for.

Dick Olsher (TAS) gave a glowing review(NPI) of the Icon Audio LA 4 MkIII tube pre

I like my Beard P505 but they can be fussy (a non-feedback design, whatever that means), and good luck finding one, he stopped making them decades ago

@smodtactical

I think you are right on track here with CJ and Shindo. If I had the space and money I would really like to build a system around Shindo… the descriptions have always been intriguing to me and in line with my desired aesthetic, but so far off from where I was, I could never go there. But from what you have said… on target for you.

Also, I have lived in Japan for a couple years. I really love Japan and the Japanese, their reverence for really fine craftsmanship, nuance and iterative improvement has got to have created the magic of Shindo… not for rock and roll… but for a completely zen wholistic recreation of music. I am jealous of your objectives… I really hope you go this route… but you will have to go speakers as well. If you do, I’d love to hear it.

@ghdprentice its just too bad all the shindo preamps have phono stage. I prefer pure line stages since I don't use vinyl.

I would also recommend Aric Audio. I have the Motherload 2. I love it, but thought “what would no preamp sound like?” I got a Benchmark and listened. The benchmark is very neutral and clean, but no more than Arics. I expected to at least hear a little further into the music, but Aric already had me there. Plus The Motherload is far more dynamic, just as transparent, and adds beautiful tube coloration.
 And Aric is great to work with! Cannot recommend him enough. I also have his super 88 se power amp. Which is every bit as good as my First Watt F8. 

Luxman CL38UC. Excellent tube preamp plus it has an excellent 3 tube MM/MC phono preamp w/4 SUT's. 

@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. 

@ghasley I am using this for my ns5000 speakers. Cabling is from QED.. the xt40s and kimber hero interconnects. Dac is denafrips terminator with v2 board.

I would like to hear the shindo for sure.

Impressive you liked ref5se more than ref6 ! Did you find the ref5se more rich / musical  and ref 6 too analytical ?

Have you explored VAC at all ?

Oh and I don't need phono.

You should check out the CODA #7x preamp that I just sold. It is soon going to be upgraded with a separate power supply. It was too tubey for me but likely the perfect sound for you. It is a SS preamp so no tubes to change unless that is a negative for you. It was great with all the amps I tried it with.

@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.

I really like my Backert Rhumba 1.3 pre with a Pass XA30.8.  Great bass, dynamics and musicality.

@ghasley Good to hear Shindo does rock well. That makes sense actually. Thanks for your comments.

I have a really sweet sounding Deja Vu tube preamp that would fit the bill.   It also has a first class MC phone section.  Anyone interested I am ready to deal!

Still searching. I am right now looking hard at cary 98 and 05 and CJ act2 series 2 or ls17.

1 more criteria is I must have a remote.

Any thoughts on prima luna evo 300/400 ? I heard a prima luna evo 300 integrated with my headphones and was blown away by the sound.

Working out a deal possibly on a CJ ET5, will let you know if it goes through.

The luxman Cl 38uc looks nice too.

yawn...