After having my UFO25s for nearly a year, I'm finally ready to start looking for a pre-amp to bring things up a level.

I read a previous thread where someone was asking about pre-amp pairings, and it seemed like the major recommendations were

1. EMIA Remote Autoformer
2. Some form of Decware CSP or other decware pre-amp

The EMIA is intriguing, but quite expensive, and seems pretty difficult to find on the used market. And while I would love to have a Decware CSP or other pre, I'm unwilling to wait two years for a new one, and they are also very hard to come across used.

So, I would like to ask for further recommendations anyone might have. I don't have any hard requirements, other than at least 2 inputs (for DAC and phono pre).

XLR would be nice so I can run the UFO25s in balanced mono but is not a requirement (unless someone has strong feelings about the benefits of running balanced mono vs not?)

Remote volume control, similarly, would be nice but not a requirement.

Otherwise, very open to any pre-amp that will sound great in front of my UFO25s and is preferably not too difficult to obtain on the used market

mk60,

You might check out Icon Audio’s line of preamps. They use autoformer technology like the EMIA preamps, can be configured with balanced ins and outs (or in combination with rcas), and come with an Apple remote. They’re also cheaper than the EMIA, and can sometimes be found on the used market. Kamran has had good results with his, so maybe he’ll chime in here.

Randy

Thanks for the input everyone! I picked up a Schiit Freya + with some nice NOS "5692" 6SN7s to tide me over until I figure out what I'm after. It actually sounds surprisingly good for the price, and noticeably better than the preamp section of my primaluna evo 400 integrated. I didn't expect that!

I ended up deciding that ZTPRE is what I'm going to try as a permanent solution. I thought it was going to take a while to track one down, but I just found one! Looking forward to seeing how much better it gets than the Freya