I went from the very well-regarded Conrad-Johnson PV-11 to the McIntosh C220 preamp. My reason was mostly for functionality. I wanted a remote, tone controls, and a balance control with more range. I do not feel that this was a step down in terms of sonic quality at all. On the contrary, the C220 sounds wonderful. Smooth, but detailed, with a very large sound stage, and excellent timbre. I know it is not a full tube preamp like the C-J, but I am extremely happy with it.It’s not their preamps that are being scrutinized here, they are the norm.
It’s more their solid state amps with transformer coupled output stages, that are very questionable to many.
Cheers George