OK here is my 2 cents worth. If you want musicality then the Pass preamp is kind of not going to do what the CJ preamp will do, SS versus tube. BUT you are not asking for that much to begin with. Opening up the sound can be as easy as changing preamp resistors to Caddock, naked Vishay or Shinko (very musical) all for about $25 in cost plus installation. If you want to make a major improvement then you need to upgrade the phono stage and the DAC. But that will cost you big time.
Liz wrote Id seriously suggest checking out the Marantz SA-10 ($7000 list) as a great device. Esoteric and PS Audio also make good silver disc spinners. The Marantz is particularly good with CDs.
My opinion differs significantly. The Marantz to me is an average CD player. I have a buddy who spent $3K or more and it still sounds just OK. The Esoteric is more dry sounding than musical. How do I know this, well a speaker manufacturer uses my tubed DHT DAC as the DAC to a $27K Esoteric CDP because he feels the Esoteric which sounds excellent does not provide the overall musical experience he wants to demonstrate his speakers. The guy with the modified Marantz also changed to the PS audio and has again moved on from there stating
The (new transport and DAC in comparison to the PS Audio set-up he used I won't mention here) is open, has great prat, and dynamic with very good micro and macro detail. I think it is transparent and not colored. What it isn't is dry, thin, sterile, and fatiguing.
Tonally, it sounds natural with nice texture and has some meat on the bones (which to me is how a lot of acoustic instruments sound) but still has bite when a trumpet is blown harder, IMHO.
"I like it much better then my PS Audio Memory player and Directstream DAC combo"
Not sure how helpful I am but that is what I can contribute.
Happy Listening.
Liz wrote Id seriously suggest checking out the Marantz SA-10 ($7000 list) as a great device. Esoteric and PS Audio also make good silver disc spinners. The Marantz is particularly good with CDs.
My opinion differs significantly. The Marantz to me is an average CD player. I have a buddy who spent $3K or more and it still sounds just OK. The Esoteric is more dry sounding than musical. How do I know this, well a speaker manufacturer uses my tubed DHT DAC as the DAC to a $27K Esoteric CDP because he feels the Esoteric which sounds excellent does not provide the overall musical experience he wants to demonstrate his speakers. The guy with the modified Marantz also changed to the PS audio and has again moved on from there stating
The (new transport and DAC in comparison to the PS Audio set-up he used I won't mention here) is open, has great prat, and dynamic with very good micro and macro detail. I think it is transparent and not colored. What it isn't is dry, thin, sterile, and fatiguing.
Tonally, it sounds natural with nice texture and has some meat on the bones (which to me is how a lot of acoustic instruments sound) but still has bite when a trumpet is blown harder, IMHO.
"I like it much better then my PS Audio Memory player and Directstream DAC combo"
Not sure how helpful I am but that is what I can contribute.
Happy Listening.