Preamps: Ayre K-5xeMP vs Pass Labs XP-10 vs Arcam C49

(((I used to own the Ayre K-5xeMP and it's still the best preamp I've ever owned.)))
 That says it right there.
Sometimes you really miss it only when its gone.
 Best JohnnyR

One of my setups uses a JC 2 BP and JC 1 monoblocks to drive KEF Reference 107/2s, another uses an Ayre K-5exMP and VX-5 Twenty KEF to drive KEF LS50s.  Though the speakers are obviously very different, my general observation is that the Ayre based setup sounds a bit warmer, whatever the acoustic correlates of warmer are.  Someday, I expect to try the Ayre stuff with the big KEFs, and hope to have replaced my K-5xeMP with a KX-5 Twenty to match the amp.

The Parasound setup uses an Esoteric SA-60 disc player, the Ayre setup an Ayre C-5xeMP.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I did indeed just end up nabbing another K-5xeMP off the listings here and have been happily listening to it for the past several days. I decided to not roll the dice with a preamp I had not heard in my system and go with what had made me happy in the past. Funny how the compulsion to upgrade in this hobby sometimes leads you back to where you started.