Next step: tube preamp or analog?

Lps.  And yes add room acoustics to the list. In terms of objective, it is to achieve the next level of musical enjoyment.  I started putting a system together in Jan 2018 and the first few steps were obvious based on owning a few hundred cds and no lps. 

Dorkwad, thanks for your insights as well; sounds like the phono direction could be a very slippery slope esp for a tinkerer like me. 

Thanks for the insight, guess I am still learning the vocab. 

Leaning toward the tube preamp.  Have been considering Schiit Freya, the Jolida Fusion, and now seeing a deHavilland UltraVerve circa 2005.  Seems to me the deHavilland is very well reviewed and I like external tubes, but it lacks xlr connections.  Is this a major consideration?  When I used Silnote Morpheus xlrs to connect the DAC to the integrated amp, it made a huge difference, will I being going backwards without xlrs?