I tried using the Preamp in the Grimm MU2 instead of my preamp. It seemed nice. I could have lived with that. Switched back to my Preamp, oh my. Tried the same thing with my BACCH-SP. My bunny at a power cable between the power supply for the preamp and the preamp. It was offline. The BACCH preamp is enough for anyone. Until I returned to my preamp. Ooops.
It makes no sense to me.
I think you need to decide what features you need in a preamp. I am hoping you just need I/O. If that were the case you could do a search for the most musical, but very simple device. Someone around here could figure out a way to search for “Most musical but simple and not too expensive” answer.
I never appreciated McIntosh gear ever, I think the look derails me. But they make preamps that let choose tube or solid state mode. That could be fun.
I hope you find something no one knows of. That would be great!