ARC REF 3 or MBL 5011 - what is better buy?

Tvad, I hate to say but you are absolutely wrong. All I want to get as much opinions as possible to find a good choice, because for me this is the one of the best options to come up with the more or less of good choice. It does not have to be MBL 5011. As for now, I’m leaning towards ARC REF 3. The only thing that stops me from buying it the opinion of the Audiogon member( Guidocorona ) who seem reviewer for TAS and respected here on the AudioGon. He is stating on several occasions that Jeff Rowland Capri sounds close if not better (for him of course) than ARC REF 3. When I read that $3000 unit sounds as good or better than $10000 unit it make me confused at least and make me to go on another round of evaluations.

I have owned and appreciated the MBL 5011. It is a very fine preamp, and close to the flagship 6010D in sound quality, though not as resolving. I eventually traded it in for two reasons: it lacks a balance control and its output impedance of 100 ohms, though relatively low, is still too high for getting the best out of my amp (a Burmester 911 Mk3).

TVAD, I was not aware of how many tubes were in the Ref3 or the replacement cost from Audio Research. I have a REF 1, which uses 8 6922/7308 tubes and nos tubes such as Siemens, Valvo or Tungsram can be close to $1,000. So if it is only $330 to replace the tubes on the Ref 3, than you guys are right, as it should not be too much of a concern. The Ref 1 is a superb preamp and from what I have read, the Ref 3 leaves it in the dust!