I am in the market for a preamp. I am currently using a friend's DIY Pass Labs buffer (passive preamp). I recently sold my CAT preamp as it wasn't transparent enough (beautiful midrange, great body, but rolled off in the highs and somewhat colored).
There are 4 preamps I am considering. I started this thread not to ask "which should I buy" as obviously nobody can make that decision but me - and I doubt anyone can really predict how it will interact with my amps (CAT JL7s) let alone my system as whole. I am writing this thread as part of my research (which I've already done a fair amount) and my hope is to learn a bit more about these preamps.
For example, no preamp is perfect. All good preamps have strengths and weaknesses. The main goal of this thread is to learn what the strengths and weaknesses are for these preamps. I will take all comments with a healthy grain of salt as we all know a weakness might simply be a system mismatch and a strength might really be a personal preference etc.
The preamps are:
- Conrad Johnson GAT 2
- VTL 7.5 Series III
- Spectral DMC-30SV
- darTZeel NHB-18NS (series 1)
In case anyone wonders, what I don't like about my friends passive preamp is that:
- it's just a little too dry
- I think an active preamp would give me better dynamics
- I'm hoping for better instrument separation
Hearing any of these preamps in my system (or anyone else's system) is not easy. Ultimately I would like to do that before making a decision, but I cannot do that for all of them and I need to reduce this list to 2 as it may be costly (not to mention time consuming) to audition them all.
So: have you heard any of these preamps in a context that gives you feel for its strengths or weaknesses?
My system is fairly transparent and neutral (maybe even a tad lean sounding).
Thoughts?
There are 4 preamps I am considering. I started this thread not to ask "which should I buy" as obviously nobody can make that decision but me - and I doubt anyone can really predict how it will interact with my amps (CAT JL7s) let alone my system as whole. I am writing this thread as part of my research (which I've already done a fair amount) and my hope is to learn a bit more about these preamps.
For example, no preamp is perfect. All good preamps have strengths and weaknesses. The main goal of this thread is to learn what the strengths and weaknesses are for these preamps. I will take all comments with a healthy grain of salt as we all know a weakness might simply be a system mismatch and a strength might really be a personal preference etc.
The preamps are:
- Conrad Johnson GAT 2
- VTL 7.5 Series III
- Spectral DMC-30SV
- darTZeel NHB-18NS (series 1)
In case anyone wonders, what I don't like about my friends passive preamp is that:
- it's just a little too dry
- I think an active preamp would give me better dynamics
- I'm hoping for better instrument separation
Hearing any of these preamps in my system (or anyone else's system) is not easy. Ultimately I would like to do that before making a decision, but I cannot do that for all of them and I need to reduce this list to 2 as it may be costly (not to mention time consuming) to audition them all.
So: have you heard any of these preamps in a context that gives you feel for its strengths or weaknesses?
My system is fairly transparent and neutral (maybe even a tad lean sounding).
Thoughts?