Posted on 
Mar 16, 2015 01:30 pm I haven't used one, nor heard one, but I can say, ART usually makes some okay stuff...but probably nothing to write home about. I use their SLA-1 amp to power my monitors, and their headamp-pro 6 for my headphones.
Anyway, when it comes to preamps, that particular unit has a lot of other features, and when you have a preamp with many features selling at a $450 price point, you have to ask yourself, how much of that money actually pays for the preamp alone? $100? $200?
IMO, if you just need a preamp, get a preamp that doesn't have a bajillion features, but just a good solid quality preamp. EQ, compression, de-essing, that can all be done in the DAW, and often times with better quality/results than exists on a hardware unit at least at this price point. Dither? why is that even there on an input chain?
For example, look at this preamp: www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/WA12
With the Warm Audio preamp, you'd be paying for a $450 preamp, not a $100 or $200 preamp with extra bells/whistles/features that drive the price up to $450 for the whole unit. From what I've read, warm audio is supposed to be a pretty decent stuff, too.
That's my 2 cents anyway.