How much do I need to spend to get a preamp that sounds better than no preamp?

" Like so many things he's designed, it's a quirky component with a  narrow appeal ". I honestly cannot believe this has been said. NP has shared with the diy community most of his designs, which were all labors of love, not to make a dime. Give me, and everyone else a break !

@mrdecibel 

Are you crazy? The man himself makes it clear that the FW amps are weird little amps with very narrow appeal and application. 

Maximum Gain 10 dB
Freq. Response +0, -1 dB @ 10 Hz and 100 kHz
Distortion < .1 % THD

Hm. We can do that with 1Hz to 400Khz, distortion at 0.01%. And that's with no feedback. And all tube, balanced.

kosst, he has many followers......geez,,,you are one of them. He never designed a product where someone could not use it. He caters to a wide variety of listeners, which is interesting because he almost designs for himself, going after his holy grail in design. As I see it, to listeners wanting the virtues of tubes, but want solid state, and has accomplished that. You just seem to be making fun of him and not giving the man any credit. Who is bigger than he in the diy world, and so generous with his knowledge. This is how I see it. 

@mrdecibel

"First Watt exists because I wanted to explore a variety of amplifier designs in what I think of as neglected areas - amplifiers that might not fit into the mainstream and are probably not appropriate to my more commercial enterprise, Pass Labs.

With oddball characteristics and output power ratings of 25 watts or less, First Watt is not for most people. If you have efficient loudspeakers, listen at reasonable levels and are obsessed about subjective performance, then you probably have come to the right place."

You have no clue what you’re talking about.

So far as I can tell, and by his own words, he's not groping at emulating tube sounds. His SIT amps kinda sound like triodes because of the gain character of the devices, but that's about it. Pass Labs gear is the broad appeal stuff. Amps and pre-amps that will drive anything. That's not what the FW stuff is. The most broadly appealing products from FW are the Aleph J and, you guessed it, the F5! All the others require special consideration.