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Review NaN of
Price Paid:
$250.00
from Sounstage Audio Summary:
I was quite surprised what a tube preamp can do to a solid state system. I would recommend adding a tubed pre to any system from my experience. Most of the CD nasties went away. Also soundstage and overall musicality increased. When I purchased this pre, I actually had the pre tested in a system that was mostly top-of-the-line Musical Fidelity (A308 series I think) stuff driving Martin Logans (Ascents I believe). I know, I know. A pre of this price would not belong here. But from what I can remember, while there were definite differences (like the MFs extended top and low end and better soundstaging) and the MF was definitely better, at 10x the price of this ASL pre, the laws of diminishing return certainly ruled here. It acquited itself quite well. Taking it home, I was not disappointed AT ALL. In fact, it's almost as if the upgrade bug (what I like to call audiophile syndrome) drifted away. This was the last part I have purchased in quite a while and I think I might finally be happy. To be truthful, I know this is not the be all end all of sound. This pre certainly has its downside. It's a little tinny for tube sound. The included tubes could be upgraded to possibly mitigate this but I haven't done it. It also doesn't "blossom" as well as it could. But for $300 bucks (and those are Canadian bones including taxes) you can't go wrong. I think I can highly recommend anyone not satisfied with their solid state sound to try this pre out in their system. In my case, it replaced a particularly good receiver acting as a preamp (Marantz SR9200) and it surpasses its sound in leaps and bounds. The bottom line: I definitely must say try it! If it doesn't make a positive impact on your system, at least you're only out a few hundred bucks. And in audiopile land, that's a drop in a very large bucket. Strengths:
Get's rid of the "flatness" of a strictly solid state system. Adds life and soundstage. Nice tube glow :) Small and simple - nothing get's in the way of the sound. Surprisingly good! Weaknesses:
Certainly not the be-all-end-all in preamps. There is a (fairly small) price to be paid in terms of sound in this price range. I want to try a better tubed preamp... Only 3 inputs and 1 pre-out set. Crappy chinese tubes. But what do you expect at this price?
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