Tube pre-amp upgrade from Mcintosh C2300

It is very hard for me to audition the Mac C500, ARC Ref 5 and Shindo Monbrison. That is why I want other people’s input.

Yxlei, I'm with you - I am tired of changing cables too - I am so done with that. Good luck with your decision on a new preamp, I am about 1 year behind you.

I put late '50's vintage RCA's in my c2300....WOW!!!

Other top class tube preamps include TRON, LAMM, EAR. I bought a TRON having heard the others.

Just a update. Without being able to audition, I bought a Mac C500T. I almost bought a Shindo Monbrison, then I was told about the quality and reliability problems with some shindo owner. I saw inside pics of brand new Monbrison with bad soldering, cheap parts, different brand of tubes used on both channel and etc..

Maybe ARC ref5 sounds better, but Mac C500T is a safe bet for me without audition them because for sure it have good synergy with my Mac power amps.

Just as other people mentioned, I noticed a big improvement from C2300 to C500T. C2300 leave me unsettled and want more while C500T make me settled. Human voice from C500T is more clean, relax and effortless. You also get bigger soundstage, better image and more weight. Overall, with separate power design and fully balanced, C500T is in a different league than C2300. For Mac, too bad you have to get almost their top of line pre-amp to enjoy the effortless music.