Which preamp to pair with Moon W5 amplifier?

Although like many tubed pre's it doesn't have balanced in and outputs, the Hovland HP-100 or HP-200 is a consideration. I once did an A/B comparison between the Simaudio P-5 and Hovland HP-100. No question, it just took one track of Ryan Adams Heartbreaker to realize the Hovland was much more musical and liquid in the midrange. Unfortunately, the Hovland did have a quiet hum in one channel, which has been noted by others as well. So, do have a listen !

Bbybaudio, The W-5 is a very nice amp. It's one of my favorites as it is quite fast and provides even a somewhat sweet sound which is a bit unusual for a solid state amp.

In fact, I did not know what a fast amp was until I plugged the W-5 into my system.

If you agree that the W-5 already has a somewhat sweet sound, then I would put less consideration toward a tubed preamp and just focus on a good preamp regardless of it being a tube or solid state.

I cannot remember now which preamps I had when I owned the W-5 but a few that I think may really compliment it would be a Placette Active Linestage or a Pass Labs X2.5 or X-1.

As I recall, the only questionable deficiency with the W-5 was it's bass reproduction. For this reason alone, I would stay away from a tube preamp with the W-5.

-IMO

take the above coment with a grain of salt- I use a highly modded Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamp (2-chassis 65 ib beasty), along with a Sim Audio W-3 amp, and the bass is full and deep...

Stehno - Interesting comment about lack of bass, I had that problem when I bought my W5 based off the reviews. I had no BASS with my Audible Illusions L1 preamp (tube). After two weeks I returned it to the Dealer and Bought an EAD PowerMaster 2000 amplfier which solved both ends of the sonic Spectrum...

I have owned the Placette Active (single Ended) and it is an amazing preamp! it made one of the biggest improvements in my overall system. It is amazing how much a preamp can get in the way of your music

Stehno: I have had no problem with low end. In fact I pruchased W5 to replace Bryston 4BST (a bass master)based on reviews in both Sterophile and the absolute sound, both of which raved about it's phenomenal low end. In fact even in passive mode with the Adcom Pre, the low end is tremendous. I would like a little more midrange liquidity. Using Classe CDT-1 and DAC1 front end and B&W CDM7SE speakers. MIT top of the line cables all around except for illuminati balanced digital.