I own a couple of Van Alstine pieces and have written some reviews for Frank. I live 3 minutes from him and have been over to his house (factory) many times. I believe the Insight is a SS preamp. It sounds very good but I preferred and bought the top of the line hybrid tube preamp (the Ultra, which was upgraded to the Ultra Plus) which had much more air and transparency as well as detail and resolution. I am selling the Ultra preamp as I have since gone to a BAT VK-51se. I paid $1700 plus an additional $350 for the upgrades including a home theater bypass switch. I am letting it go for $900. It is a 9/10 condition. It was completely checked out by Frank Van Alstine himself last October. You can give him a call and he can vouch for me. The stock Electro Harmonix 6CG7 tubes have less than 100 hours on them as I used NOS Sylvania black plates and Raytheon black plates.
Best Regards,
Larry