Simaudio 850p

[Arrow]

Does anyone have experience with Simaudio 850p? If so, what's your thought and how does it compare to other high end preamps?
thanks

 

[ctydwn]

Hi @Arrow,
Welcome to wbf or at least to your first post.
imho the 850p is an incredible preamp. I moved up from the 740p to the 850p and honestly the 740p sounded broken in comparison. It was the move from the 740p to the 850p that I first understood that it is possible to have music without longer term fatigue. I was smitten. I used this in combination with the 780d and the 870a amp and later 860a v2 monoblocks.

That all said, I tried Lampizator Pacific direct to my amps and bypassed the 850p, I still preferred the 850p in the system as my post below described. Today, I am running the Lampizator Horizon and I have to be honest the difference with the 850p in the system or direct to amps was so small, I could longer justify holding onto the 850p. The linestage section in the Horizon, in my system/room, is phenomenal. I do hope Simaudio perhaps will introduce a new preamp in the near future as the 850p was introduced over 10 years ago now. The only other comparable preamp I did compare the 850p to at the time directly was the Audio Research Ref10. I preferred the 850p perhaps in part due to system synergy.
Hope that helps a bit.

Lampizator announcement: launch of our all new TOTL HORIZON DAC

It was posted because same video was posted on Wadax thread asking for Horizon video to be posted. On wadax thread 4 different systems with different dacs have been posted with a cello concerto. Exactly. I hereby challenge someone with a Wadax system to make a video from Qobuz Of something...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[Arrow]

Hi @Arrow,
Welcome to wbf or at least to your first post.
imho the 850p is an incredible preamp. I moved up from the 740p to the 850p and honestly the 740p sounded broken in comparison. It was the move from the 740p to the 850p that I first understood that it is possible to have music without longer term fatigue. I was smitten. I used this in combination with the 780d and the 870a amp and later 860a v2 monoblocks.

That all said, I tried Lampizator Pacific direct to my amps and bypassed the 850p, I still preferred the 850p in the system as my post below described. Today, I am running the Lampizator Horizon and I have to be honest the difference with the 850p in the system or direct to amps was so small, I could longer justify holding onto the 850p. The linestage section in the Horizon, in my system/room, is phenomenal. I do hope Simaudio perhaps will introduce a new preamp in the near future as the 850p was introduced over 10 years ago now. The only other comparable preamp I did compare the 850p to at the time directly was the Audio Research Ref10. I preferred the 850p perhaps in part due to system synergy.
Hope that helps a bit.

Lampizator announcement: launch of our all new TOTL HORIZON DAC

It was posted because same video was posted on Wadax thread asking for Horizon video to be posted. On wadax thread 4 different systems with different dacs have been posted with a cello concerto. Exactly. I hereby challenge someone with a Wadax system to make a video from Qobuz Of something...

www.whatsbestforum.com

thanks ctydwn.
I am on a similar path. I have an 850p already, running an 860a V2. I upgraded from 740p and shared your opinion. I couldn't listen to the 740p pairing with the 860aV2. I am thinking of getting a MSB or DCS dac and read that many people are going straight to the amp. Hence I am trying to justify keeping the 850p. I don't have the dac yet so ultimately i have to listen to see. I love the 850p. But I don't know too many people with that preamp so wanted to see what people think. Thanks again for your reply