Your All Time Favorite Preamplifiers?

[LL21]

Have a listen to the Koda 15ex .... I have compared it to a few tube pre amps in my rig .. namely the Wavac Prt 1 and Zanden 3000 ... much prefer the SS pre , now mated with the Zanden 9600 .

Be interested to know....Which tube pre amps,are in the top echelon according to you?

In my own experience from the very first preamp to 2 years ago, that is over 20 consecutive years of tube preamps...where the competition was always tube preamps. Zanden, Shindo, Wavac, Kondo, as well as ARC and CJ were the primary names that I either owned or auditioned.

And then, like you it seems, along comes Robert Koda K15EX, and the switch came naturally and effortlessly.

 

[Zappadaddy]

Have a listen to the Koda 15ex .... I have compared it to a few tube pre amps in my rig .. namely the Wavac Prt 1 and Zanden 3000 ... much prefer the SS pre , now mated with the Zanden 9600 .

Be interested to know....Which tube pre amps,are in the top echelon according to you?

The preference lies upon your setup and your brain, right?

There are many who can’t live with a SS preamp once they have heard a top tube preamp, regardless of what the perceived strengths are of that SS preamp.

 

[godofwealth]

Robert Koda K15EX,

The Koda is a minimalist design with no remote control. That itself knocks it out of consideration for most people, even those with the budget to buy it. To use a photographic analogy, the Koda is like a Leica M rangefinder. The Leica M is all manual with no autofocus. It’s a great camera, but only for a particular class of photographer (forget fast action sports or bird photography).

To use a dramatically different design, I recently got the Mola Mola Makua. It’s about as far from the Koda design as you can imagine. The Makua is also minimalist in a different sense. Every input is controlled through an iPhone app so you can with the add on phono stage hook up 5-6 turntables to it and run each cartridge on a different phono equalization setting. Or you can make all inputs line level or digital. It has a built in Roon server. It’s got the Tambaqui world class DAC as an add on. It’s about as close to a straight wire with gain as any measuring device can determine (distortion below -130 dB).

No such thing as a preamp that will please everyone as there is no such camera that will make everyone happy. You choose your preamp based on your needs, your system and your musical preferences, much as you are either a Canon shooter (read I like fast action sports) or a Leica shooter (I prefer street view photography).

 

[Chop]

Have a listen to the Koda 15ex .... I have compared it to a few tube pre amps in my rig .. namely the Wavac Prt 1 and Zanden 3000 ... much prefer the SS pre , now mated with the Zanden 9600 .

Be interested to know....Which tube pre amps,are in the top echelon according to you?

I can't speak for the 15ex but I heard the Robert Koda Takumi K10 last week. Its the best pre amp I've ever head. IMO, an absolutely stunning pre.
Whether a pre amp is valve or transistor seem completely irrelevant if the pre amp is good enough. Its just different approaches to the same goal.

 

[LL21]

I can't speak for the 15ex but I heard the Robert Koda Takumi K10 last week. Its the best pre amp I've ever head. IMO, an absolutely stunning pre.
Whether a pre amp is valve or transistor seem completely irrelevant if the pre amp is good enough. Its just different approaches to the same goal.

Wow...coming from an owner of the Avantgarde Trios, Tron and Allnic electronics, any probably anything from Yamamura, that is saying something my book. Of the group, I have only heard the new Avantgarde Trios and a teeny bit of Allnic, but everything I have read about these other designers is exemplary.

Thanks for the feedback. There are not many who have heard Robert Koda.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Solid state .

CH precision would also be a candidate for me .

Or FM acoustics / Gryphon commander

If all goes well ( and i dont suddenly have to go Cameroun or north africa later this month )
Then i will attend the IEAR show , where most likely the new HALCRO pre amp will be present

 

[Jpspock]

Nagra HD or Bespoke Audio.

 

[andromedaaudio]

The pre amp that started this hifi craze for me

 

[heihei]

I've tried a lot of pre-amps in my system (AR Ref 10, VTL 7.5, Soulution 5-series, Berning, LTA, Ypsilon etc), and the best I've heard is CH L1 with X1 power supply. The bare L1 is good, but bettered by my Audionet Stern.

For a time I owned a Mayer 10Y partial silver and really enjoyed it - it gave a tremendous flow to the music. It was the only one Thomas ever made with a remote!

I also love the Bespoke Audio, but am definitely an active-pre guy!

Outside of my system, the Nagra HD impressed.

 

[LL21]

I've tried a lot of pre-amps in my system (AR Ref 10, VTL 7.5, Soulution 5-series, Berning, LTA, Ypsilon etc), and the best I've heard is CH L1 with X1 power supply. The bare L1 is good, but bettered by my Audionet Stern.

For a time I owned a Mayer 10Y partial silver and really enjoyed it - it gave a tremendous flow to the music. It was the only one Thomas ever made with a remote!

I also love the Bespoke Audio, but am definitely an active-pre guy!

Outside of my system, the Nagra HD impressed.

Great insights...thanks for sharing. Very few people have had the opportunity to spend real time with so many world-class preamps. I have heard Ref 10, Soulution 5, Ypsilon, Boulder 2000 series, VTL 7.5 Mk3, but not in my system for a period...just in systems I had some knowledge of. Never heard Mayer or Berning. Would like to hear CH but never wanted to bother the main distributor who is extremely enthusiastic...mainly because whenever I have had interest, other opportunities have come closer to home and more readily. Originally, Gryphon Mephisto and more recently Robert Koda K15EX and K160.

 

[Tabl10s]

The pre amp that started this hifi craze for me View attachment 119184

How does it compare to today's offerings?

 

[andromedaaudio]

How does it compare to today's offerings?

definitively worthwhile

 

[kodomo]

This may be confirmation bias as I decided upon this pre as my main pre for my home system.

icon audio pro4 silver balanced that I have has 4 silver Slagle autoformers, reed relays and all the extras he could do. It is, for me, flawless.

 

[the sound of Tao]

This may be confirmation bias as I decided upon this pre as my main pre for my home system.

icon audio pro4 silver balanced that I have has 4 silver Slagle autoformers, reed relays and all the extras he could do. It is, for me, flawless.

I’m long drawn to trying a silver AVC after having trialled a copper Bespoke… for some time the Emia Ag AVC and the intact silver autoformers have caught my eye but I have a hesitation about whether 47 or 1db steps for volume is enough fine control especially with high sensitivity systems. The reed relays in my LTA MZ3 gives me 100 steps and mostly half db increments.

But I have wondered about the new Icon 5 running with the silver Slagle autoformers option… 138 steps for volume via reed relays and a defeatable active buffer on the input of the autoformers so you can have traditional full passive AVC mode or run as an active line stage which I’m thinking gives some options to trim the flow and the angularity of the dynamic shading.

I’d guess full passive for analogue and digital classical and jazz and maybe run with the active line stage buffer mode shaping to a shade more drive on rock. Unfortunately (as always) reading between the lines with a review from Sjraen Eben at 6moons is impossible.

 

[kodomo]

I’m long drawn to trying a silver AVC after having trialled a copper Bespoke… for some time the Emia Ag AVC and the intact silver autoformers have caught my eye but I have a hesitation about whether 47 or 1db steps for volume is enough fine control especially with high sensitivity systems. The reed relays in my LTA MZ3 gives me 100 steps and mostly half db increments.

But I have wondered about the new Icon 5 running with the silver Slagle autoformers option… 138 steps for volume via reed relays and a defeatable active buffer on the input of the autoformers so you can have traditional full passive AVC mode or run as an active line stage which I’m thinking gives some options to trim the flow and the angularity of the dynamic shading.

I’d guess full passive for analogue and digital classical and jazz and maybe run with the active line stage buffer mode shaping to a shade more drive on rock. Unfortunately (as always) reading between the lines with a review from Sjraen Eben at 6moons is impossible.

Mine has 67 steps in 0.5db with a few 1db ones that have been cleverly put in between.

 

[Blue58]

my Java HiFi LDR has given great service for the last few years but I find the volume jumps just too coarse these days and so I looked at the Icon5.

My word, the price has rocketed. The Icon4 was around £3K, the Icon5 now Over £7K with Ag autoformers. Way out of my price bracket.

I noticed that Khozmo now have a simple relay shunt attenuator in their line and for £700 worth a punt even though that’s a lot for a simple 1 in 1 out and a few resistors. I believe this volume control is similar to that used in Lampizator DACs.



When it arrives I’ll give some feedback and if it doesn’t do the magic then perhaps I’ll look for a cheap used Icon4 pro or at least change the Zfoils for AN Ag Tantalum

cheers
Blue58

 

[DasguteOhr]

my Java HiFi LDR has given great service for the last few years but I find the volume jumps just too coarse these days and so I looked at the Icon5.

My word, the price has rocketed. The Icon4 was around £3K, the Icon5 now Over £7K with Ag autoformers. Way out of my price bracket.

I noticed that Khozmo now have a simple relay shunt attenuator in their line and for £700 worth a punt even though that’s a lot for a simple 1 in 1 out and a few resistors. I believe this volume control is similar to that used in Lampizator DACs.

View attachment 119265

When it arrives I’ll give some feedback and if it doesn’t do the magic then perhaps I’ll look for a cheap used Icon4 pro or at least change the Zfoils for AN Ag Tantalum

cheers
Blue58

Did you ever hear hattor audio, its khozmo passive preamp with tube buffer outputstage. Looks intressting.

Hattor Audio

 

[Blue58]

Did you ever hear hattor audio, its khozmo passive preamp with tube buffer outputstage. Looks intressting.

Hattor Audio

View attachment 119266

It does look interesting.
My reason for choosing the simple unit was to eliminate any pots/wipers and effectively get down to just two resistors in the signal path. The relays can also be powered by a battery supply.
As for the buffer, I’m not entirely sure what this achieves if it was between Dac and SET amps apart from ‘flavouring’ the sound. I need enlightening.


cheers
Blue58

 

[DasguteOhr]

It does look interesting.
My reason for choosing the simple unit was to eliminate any pots/wipers and effectively get down to just two resistors in the signal path. The relays can also be powered by a battery supply.
As for the buffer, I’m not entirely sure what this achieves if it was between Dac and SET amps apart from ‘flavouring’ the sound. I need enlightening.

cheers
Blue58

Yon can buy it with shunt volume controll,then there are only two resistors in the signal path e.g. vishay z foil. Tube stage buffers are interesting if you have long cable runs or several power amplifiers, which is where passive preamplifiers reach their limit. The lower the impedance on the passive preamp, the less straight the frequency response of the preamplifier becomes.
P.S
i use the same relay volume colume controll like you , the best sounding for diy i ever hear look at my photos.

 

[Rocco I.]

Burmester 808 MK5. A lifetime preamp.