transistor pre with the sound of tubes


Not sure i am mature enough for a tube preamp, so my quest would be for a transistor pre with a hint of tube sound.
What would be your suggestions? 
Btw, needs to be balanced as my active speakers only accept balanced.


rird
Tube preamp into solid state amp or solid state preamp into tube amp. or all tubes. lol
There is NO such thing as "tube" or "transistor" sound! Only a CIRCUIT has a SOUND! The big advantage a solid-state device has over a vacuum tube is that the former is free from aging effects.


If “only” a circuit then why does tube rolling change sound? The lightbulb analogy is good - circuit stays the same but the type of bulb produces a specific result. Also, saying SS gear doesn’t age? So caps don’t go bad? Class A’s don’t burn up? Chips don’t fail? 
Yes, ofcourse components age. I often question why people buy 20 year old units that never have been through a check up or service.
Reviews of Pass Labe XP-30, XP-32 say its sound is very neutral (not like SS and not like tubes -just sounds like music).
Also, have you considered a tube buffer stage? Plus your preamp output into a box containing tubes for that magical glow!
DECWARE ZBox stand alone tube output stage - review