I had a DB659 preamp for a while. I found it was too noisy as in buzz city. No matter what I did with cabling and grounding I could not get rid of the buzzing. I got rid of the buzz when I got rid of the Aguilar. YMMV
Yeah I'd like to get another one, they just look so cool and have a nice warm sound, big bucks now though, I'm going to have to wait until next July, mine was kind of fragile too.