BAT VK 53SE vs ARC Ref 5SE

Unless I have missed my hunch here both units use the "Super Tube", which is the 6H-30 tube I believe.  As someone who has owned over 30 preamps (yep, I am OCD in this area and I know it) I have a pretty good idea of tubes, and tube amps, plus I own over 800 NOS tubes. I have owned a lot of ARC preamps as well as BAT, and the BAT preamps from the early days where the 6922 was used as well as some 5881 or 6V6 tubes as rectifiers or in the power supply, those were fine preamps. I have owned two BAT preamps with the Super-Tube and sold them to get back to preamps with the 6922 and I could roll tubes that help bring out the best in the BAT. 
Of course, there are those who will say I am nuts, or I cannot hear, or my head has been relocated to another area on my body (or in my body) but I have never, EVER been happy with the 6H30.
There are some great preamps out there with some good NOS tubes so is there any particular reason for those two preamps? As always, it is all so system dependent ...

@zkidd +10    I could not have said it better!

Agree with @zkidd .  The 6H30 is a tube that sounds like a transistor to my ear.  I think it's for those who want transistor like attributes but still like saying they are a "tube person".

hk_fan also nails it. The 6H30 tube is like a transistor and yet in my experiences even worse than some transistors for even a MOSFET has some life in it compared to the 6H30. Truly, with some excellent new re-released tubes out there plus several good sources of NOS tubes (not Ebay) one can find an excellent preamp that will allow you to experience what tubes can really do for a music system.
I hope that helps and it does not appear that I am beating the dead horse here.

During my quest for a high quality sounding preamp, I auditioned 6 preamps one of which was the ARC Ref 5SE. I was able to settle on the BAT VK53SE  to go with a Bryston 4BSST2 amp which I've now upgraded to BAT VK255se monos.
I tried the lower end model BAT VK43SE for about a month from Music Direct with the 6, 6h30 tubes and I thought it was very musical but it lacked low end bass punch and had a smaller sound stage. A local dealer was able to let me borrow the ARC Ref 5se preamp that you asked about. It's slightly larger than the BAT and burns MUCH hotter because it uses a 6550 and 1 6H30 tube for it's power supply. I have to use my components in a wooden built in cabinet, a major pain when trying to change components and wires. So guess what? the ARC uses a plastic top grill and would have melted without proper ventilation. WTF plastic?? The build quality on the BAT is much better, no plastic and the performace?? Well let's just say holy cow!!! I could only guess how the Rex would be with a separate power supply. BTW, the BAT VK53se is upgradable to the REX.The ARC Ref 5se doesn't compare. I know with the Ref 6 ARC has made some rather noticeable improvements. I did like the tube usage indicator on the ARC however.
One of the other pre amps I really liked, especially for the money, was the John Curl designed Parasound JC2 BP at about one quarter of the original price of the BAT or the ARC.