Tube Pre Amplifier - Suggestions ! Top End.

This thread is like God asking how he could shape his world better....
HP

bhagwan69 schrieb:

Point noted; This MFA is not tubed. Therefore it should not be here.... :Y

Bhagwan, it is okay to discuss non tubed preamps here, after all it is your thread .
However, my question was coming from a different direction.
Typically a high quality "Tube" preamp is sought when you want to add a little bit more of the "Tube" magic of course without sacrificing transparency and detail. It is a very understandable requirement. However MFA is a totally different device. I am sure you would have heard the high end MFA and liked it. But I am wondering, what is it that you would have heard !!! A device like MFA can at the max only get out of the way allowing you to create a situation as if there is no preamp in your chain. In such a scenario you are listening to the source - power amp synergy. You are NOT hearing the preamp and it is obvious because the purpose of a passive is always to "NOT" hear the preamp. I dont know if there is any other reason why one would want to look at a passive preamp. In real world though this is not the case and you do end up hearing the passive device, but for the sake of simplicity I will assume that the top of the line MFA leaves only a minuscule signature of its own and does a perfect job of getting out of the way.
Do you really want that ? If yes, then:

1. You will not get any of the "tube magic" you had initially started the hunt for.

2. You have to be extremely sure that your source - power amp synergy, meaning the tonal balance and presentation you get when your source mates with your power amp is exactly what you want. Please remember that wherever you have heard the MFA, you have actually heard the source - power amp synergy and not really the preamp. So it could be very different on a different set of source and power amps.

What is your take on these two statements ?