Tube pre-amp upgrade from Mcintosh C2300

It is very hard for me to audition the Mac C500, ARC Ref 5 and Shindo Monbrison. That is why I want other people’s input.

Idealy, I should go listen to all those good pre-amps and see which one is better for me, but it is hard for me to do it.

Lots of people say Mac C2300+ MC402 is a combo made in heaven. C2300 is a good pre-tube, but I don't feel heaven yet.

Mac C500T is fully balanced design with seperate power supply. A dealer who sells both Mac and ARC perfer the transparency of the ARC. Shindo is a very popular boutique brand and has come across my mind for several years. I never have any Japanese high end audio gear and I always admire their craftsmanship, precision engineer and dedication.

Tube rolling is an option. It might work on Macs, but not too much on ARC and Shindo. Tube rolling is like trying different cables and I am a little tired of changing cables.

Just a update. Without being able to audition, I bought a Mac C500T. I almost bought a Shindo Monbrison, then I was told about the quality and reliability problems with some shindo owner. I saw inside pics of brand new Monbrison with bad soldering, cheap parts, different brand of tubes used on both channel and etc..

Maybe ARC ref5 sounds better, but Mac C500T is a safe bet for me without audition them because for sure it have good synergy with my Mac power amps.

Just as other people mentioned, I noticed a big improvement from C2300 to C500T. C2300 leave me unsettled and want more while C500T make me settled. Human voice from C500T is more clean, relax and effortless. You also get bigger soundstage, better image and more weight. Overall, with separate power design and fully balanced, C500T is in a different league than C2300. For Mac, too bad you have to get almost their top of line pre-amp to enjoy the effortless music.