Inner detail was finer with greater air and finesse. Nuances weren't buried or smeared. Individual voices are easily discernible. Time was natural, not colored. To sum it up the LA-200 produced more realistic sound at half the price of the Metaxas.
Nothing is perfect.
State of the art products can fool us into thinking things can't get any better. Technology advances inevitably lead to improvements. For now, however, the Joule Electra is as good as a preamp gets. The circuit is set for 8 dB gain, but can be adjusted up to 12 dB. I left mine at the stock setting. Bear in mind that low impedance amps won't be driven to their full output.