I am biased and I have only ever heard the Mcintosh pre in its own set up, but the Audio Research Ref3 is one of the finest tube pre amps there is.
Maybe you could find an ARC ref2 mrk2 which is a lovely sounding pre too and may fit your budget. I have never been convinced by the lower ARC pre amps, but maybe only because I heard the higher in the range ARC gear first.
Maybe you could find an ARC ref2 mrk2 which is a lovely sounding pre too and may fit your budget. I have never been convinced by the lower ARC pre amps, but maybe only because I heard the higher in the range ARC gear first.