musichal
poet emeritus
I'd probably go with the NAD C165BEE preamp with that budget.
Comes w/a remote,no internal DAC though,but I personally prefer external DACs myself anyways.
I also like that this preamp has a fully functional tape monitor loop as well...
Decent phono stages in these too.
JM2¢ ~ FWIW
Bret P.
My experience with the two predecessors of this model (160, 162, IIRC) was not good. Both locked up, and you had to unplug them from the wall to reset, until the day comes when that doesn't work, either. I was disappointed by a brand I'd always loved, but view with suspicion now. At least one of those model's owner's manuals included the directions for the reset if this happens, but when the reset doesn't work, typically soon after the warranty runs out it seemed, then you're stuck with paying both-way shipping to an authorized repair center, and a rather high fee to repair/replace. After experiencing this twice, I was cured of considering NAD preamps, I'm saddened to say.