It looks like the tubepower has a lot more personal experience with Aric’s products but if you’re not picky about esthetics like fancy case or heavy aluminum faceplate, machined knobs, etc., I think you will be happy with Aric Audio preamp. The inside is a bit ugly but its sort of the nature of the beast with handmade point to point wiring. The positive side is it makes it possible to easily replace parts either for repair or upgrade. Don Sachs preamps also get great reviews but I understand the waiting time could be long. I also seriously considered the Mapletree Audio preamp mainly for its separate power supply unit. Quicksilver also has a preamp for under $1K.
By the way, my comparison with the LS26 was after I had rolled all new/NOS tubes and upgraded to top of the line Audyn capacitors. Some may still like the LS26 better for its more natural balance sound across the frequency range. I had tried a Conrad Johnson PV10 in my system - what started me on this path, a while back and it sounded nice and juicy but the high end was not sparkly and just felt a little too dull. It seemed like the frequency range was squeezed at both ends and had bulged in the middle, if that makes sense. With the ARC it was like the frequency response was ironed flat. The modded Unlimited just seems to have the best qualities of the two extremes with more sparkle on top. I should add that my system is fairly modest so I may be hitting the limits of what my system is capable of. Better amp and speakers may still pull more sound out of the preamp.
There are lots of options out there and you need to decide how much "tubey" sound you like and pick the gear accordingly. I think a more tubey preamp would be a better match with your Parasound.
