Zanden 3000 - how's it holding up?

Hyperion

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Oct 3, 2011
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Hi,

I'm seriously looking at this preamp(used) to partner with my Karan monoblocks. What concerns me slightly is that it has been on the market(more or less unchanged) since about 2004. Is it still holding up against the competition?

If anyone has experience with this preamp and would like to share their thoughts, it would be much appreciated. Other potential candidates includes Conrad Johnson GAT, Aesthetic Eclipse and Einstein The tube.

Thanks!
 

andromedaaudio

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Very very good preamp i heard it many times at a local dealer/shows on various speakers /poweramps .
Very nice also on the zanden 9600 poweramps .
It has the most triode magic i ever heard on a pre , a sweet silky seductive sound .
It has something extra which is rarely found even in high end audio
I dont know if its 100 % neutral over time but it has the looks and the sound of one of the absolute top preamps .
Its too expensive for me as i would also have to buy the 1200 phono amp , so i settled for the convergent which is a lot better than i thought
It think it will sound phenomenal on a powerfull/neutral transistor poweramp , but dealers hardly do that overhere combining tube pre /big transistor poweramp
 
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Hyperion

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Oct 3, 2011
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Thanks for an amazingly fast reply :)

That surely sounds promising. The qualities/characteristics you're describing are indeed what I'm looking for in a preamp, combined with the extremely powerful Karan monoblocks(+Sonus Faber Futuras and Audio Aero La Fontiane) that I've recently inserted into my system.
 

andromedaaudio

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I replied so fast because its one of the audioproducts that i am very enthousiastic about .
Here its playing with magico and soulution on a audioshow in holland (which i missed unfortunately because of callservice at work)
One thing i dont know as i ve never really tested it, is its bass response
,some tube preamps tend to be a bit light in the bass
http://www.hear.nl/forums/topic/13925-audioshow-studio-alkmaar-2012-az-stadion/

scroll 3/4 down
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Hi,

I'm seriously looking at this preamp(used) to partner with my Karan monoblocks. What concerns me slightly is that it has been on the market(more or less unchanged) since about 2004. Is it still holding up against the competition?

If anyone has experience with this preamp and would like to share their thoughts, it would be much appreciated. Other potential candidates includes Conrad Johnson GAT, Aesthetic Eclipse and Einstein The tube.

Thanks!

why has it been on the market since 2004
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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why has it been on the market since 2004

I think he meant it has been unchanged as a model since being first introduced in '04. Many will say it is still SOTA. In general, having nearly considered it myself i am told it is exceptionally neutral and was compared, i believe to one of the Lamm references, in a review from a few years ago.

When i was considering a preamp, i looked into Shindo Giscours/Petrus, CJ GAT, Wavac PRT1 and Zanden 3000. I own the CJ GAT.

Hyperion, if you wish to speak offline, just PM me. Happy to share with you my findings which were not super in-depth, but i will share what i can.
 

JackD201

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Apr 20, 2010
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There are lots of possibilities as to why a product might remain unchanged for long stretches.

In the case of the 3000 I suspect that it was engineered well in the first place and there's no pressure from competition to make it differently. If the guys at Zanden figure out how they can make certain things better without alienating their loyal customer base, then perhaps, it will be replaced. As is, I think it holds its own.
 

andromedaaudio

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Sure i agree with jack its not a disadvantage if its been on the market for so long unchanged , its an advantage i would say .
Its been engineerd through and through as an end product and then released .
The fact that the brand exists through this day with an unchanged pre amp tells me something positive .
I buy most of my products that way .

Sme 20 series has been on the market since i can remember and with the now refined 3A they have put all the feedback over the years in a new/old design .
Krell is the (or one of )founder of high power transistor poweramps , they have been designing amps with the biggest oversized powersupplies in the high end market until this day .
Convergent SL1 preamp design already exists since a long time athough its been altered a couple of times but as i recal its not a complete new circuitlayout but merely refinenments .
A company which would come with a totally new design and calling it the best ever every 2 or 3 years , i would never buy.

gr hj
 
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Marcus

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Oct 5, 2012
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This is an old thread but since we are talking about the model 3000 here, I think it would be appropriate to put comments about it’s successor Mk2 in the same thread. So, I have heard new Zanden 3000 Mk2 line stage in a system I know very well. It replaced older model 3000 and I was extremely interested if it would perform as my other friend indicated a while ago when he compared it with his conrad-johnson GAT S2. He said: “I have no desire to listen to the GAT S2 any more.”

I’m afraid he was right. Considering it’s performance I think it is very conservative to give it “only” mk2 status. It’s so good it should be in a class above it. Yes, above model 3000 is only the mighty Chukoh that I listened to a year ago in Hong Kong but I think that Mk2 came very close to this state-of-the art monster. So, how does it sound? It literally transformed the system. Mk2 sounds considerably more real, instruments sound more correct with less colorations, also faster with better dynamics and soundstage is breathtaking. What impressed me most was that is was so unbelievably easy to follow each and every instrument of the orchestra in every “situation”. There was absolutely no homogenization just extremely focused presentation of the orchestra. Before the orchestra was a nice, coherent whole but it was sometimes not easy to follow lines of individual instruments. Mk2 changes this dramatically. It offers you the opportunity to do just that and with incredible ease, without pushing you in that direction. IMO, bass and dynamics were model 3000’s weakness. Not any more! I was impressed how this preamp handles dynamic contrasts and bass was just wow.

I remember Peter Moncrieff once wrote about a certain Audio Research amp: ”You must beg, borrow or steal to lay hands on this product.” and Zanden 3000 Mk2 deserves such a praise IME too.
 
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LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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This is an old thread but since we are talking about the model 3000 here, I think it would be appropriate to put comments about it’s successor Mk2 in the same thread. So, I have heard new Zanden 3000 Mk2 line stage in a system I know very well. It replaced older model 3000 and I was extremely interested if it would perform as my other friend indicated a while ago when he compared it with his conrad-johnson GAT S2. He said: “I have no desire to listen to the GAT S2 any more.”

I’m afraid he was right. Considering it’s performance I think it is very conservative to give it “only” mk2 status. It’s so good it should be in a class above it. Yes, above model 3000 is only the mighty Chukoh that I listened to a year ago in Hong Kong but I think that Mk2 came very close to this state-of-the art monster. So, how does it sound? It literally transformed the system. Mk2 sounds considerably more real, instruments sound more correct with less colorations, also faster with better dynamics and soundstage is breathtaking. What impressed me most was that is was so unbelievably easy to follow each and every instrument of the orchestra in every “situation”. There was absolutely no homogenization just extremely focused presentation of the orchestra. Before the orchestra was a nice, coherent whole but it was sometimes not easy to follow lines of individual instruments. Mk2 changes this dramatically. It offers you the opportunity to do just that and with incredible ease, without pushing you in that direction. IMO, bass and dynamics were model 3000’s weakness. Not any more! I was impressed how this preamp handles dynamic contrasts and bass was just wow.

I remember Peter Moncrieff once wrote about a certain Audio Research amp: ”You must beg, borrow or steal to lay hands on this product.” and Zanden 3000 Mk2 deserves such a praise IME too.

Fantastic! Now as a fellow CJ GAT 2 owner...the question is...will you be getting the Zanden 3000MkII? You and I are both also fellow Zanden owners, so winners either way! Just great to see you pursue the best.
 

Marcus

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Oct 5, 2012
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I’m perfectly satisfied with the GAT S2 and could live with it for the rest of my life. But the bug inside me is telling me this is the way to go. And to answer your question, if anybody is willing to buy my GAT S2 for a reasonable price, I’ll do it.
 

microstrip

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I’m perfectly satisfied with the GAT S2 and could live with it for the rest of my life. But the bug inside me is telling me this is the way to go. And to answer your question, if anybody is willing to buy my GAT S2 for a reasonable price, I’ll do it.

Or you sell the Mercedes, an old tradition of audiophiles wanting the top preamplifier! :) Can I ask what is a reasonable price for a GAT2?
 

Marcus

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Oct 5, 2012
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