It's rumored that Ayre may have a new design to partner with their latest monoblocks. If that's true you should seriously consider waiting before you make such an expensive upgrade. The K-1 is one of the very few preamps that offer mechanically driven attenuators for remote control. Along with a philosophy of balanced operation and fabulous sonics, it may suit your needs.
A high quality and very well executed alternative to the mainstream products you've listed is www.reflectionaudio.com
Your at a level where your subjective taste and possibly system synergy should be the guiding factor. At this level a head to head comparison would only reveal their basic traits and provide little in the way compatibility with the rest of *your* system. This is that magical point when this hobby becomes either fun or sort of scary. Whatever your choice, you will be amazed by the importance and improvement a well designed preamp can have with your existing system.
Personally, I feel the audio press is doing their job when they effectively convey their experience with a product and stay away from opinionated ranking of products at this level. One publication recently did a head to head with class D amplifiers and may have lost a great deal of credibility due to an enormous weakness in their process of comparison.
Of course that's just my opinion I could be wrong.
Have fun
A high quality and very well executed alternative to the mainstream products you've listed is www.reflectionaudio.com
Your at a level where your subjective taste and possibly system synergy should be the guiding factor. At this level a head to head comparison would only reveal their basic traits and provide little in the way compatibility with the rest of *your* system. This is that magical point when this hobby becomes either fun or sort of scary. Whatever your choice, you will be amazed by the importance and improvement a well designed preamp can have with your existing system.
Personally, I feel the audio press is doing their job when they effectively convey their experience with a product and stay away from opinionated ranking of products at this level. One publication recently did a head to head with class D amplifiers and may have lost a great deal of credibility due to an enormous weakness in their process of comparison.
Of course that's just my opinion I could be wrong.
Have fun