The pre amp does not uses parts provided by Peter of Audio Note. Jimbo, where did you get your information?
We have heard compared to M-3, M-5, M6.
They actually sound very close to as good as the older M-3. In fact it sounds incredibly good. Better than any pre I ahve heard for $3300. Lots of parts does not make a good premap. Good design does. It doesn't have tons of capacitors mertc because it is transformer coupled. Thus the ability to drive a balanced amplifier. It was not designed to be a balanced pre. That just happens to be a benefit of the coupling design.
It is designed after the hugely popular DAC 2 Balanced. It is spartan also.
In fact many of the Tranformer coupled (balanced DAC's) are made in Canada also. Is that supposed to be a bad thing? They also use parts privide by Peter of Audio Note. They worked together in the design and assembled in Canada. Mike Kerster formerly of Sonic Frontiers hand makes every unit.
Jose21 if you like your DAC you will love the M2. Whatever dealer sold it to you did you right.