Meet the new Perseus preamp from Rogue Audio, the bad boys of tubes. The Perseus is a slim $1795, slotting in right above their $995 Metis preamp and below their $2495 Ninety Nine preamp. Of course, a new tubed preamp is not terribly exciting but Rogue has been making a name for itself by kicking old tube baggage to the curb and bringing out big, banging equipment.

At CES, one speaker manufacturer demoing his equipment with a variety of tiny tube amps ended up wandering down the hall and found himself in the Rogue room. After chatting with Rogue's Mark O'Brien and tossing a few back, said speaker manufacturer rolled back to his room with the $1795 Chronos integrated. "Damn, this thing has balls!" was the verdict. Yeah, Rogue is Guinness to traditional tube pale ale.

The Perseus includes phono for you vinyl junkies as well as a remote, HT bypass and subwoofer out, which many are clamoring for these days.