bentley

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This preamp is so transparent and re-solving it beats many preamps I have owned in the past. The MC phono stage is terrific. I own two of them and even though they are considered "vintage" they surpass many current pieces.

Too bad Goldmund doesn't make them anymore

Strengths:
Clarity; no roll off of high or lows; separate power supply

Weaknesses:
A1 modules are rare; no balanced outputs

Similar Products Used:
Sonic Frontiers LIne 2, BAT, MBL, Proceed Pre

Price Paid:  $5.00 from Natural Sound - Fram

Summary:
One of the most transparent pre-amps that you can own. Pin point imaging, extremely clear accurate mid and high end. Natural base with no base bloating or bloom. Soundstage that goes to the back wall. On par with the Spectral DMC30. More defintion, detail and clarity than most contemporary Mark Levinson and Krell pre-amps. Truly a bargin if you can locate one.

Strengths:
Accurate, transparent, fast

Weaknesses:
Will reveal flaws in CDs and cheap front end digital gear

Similar Products Used:
Mark Levinson and Krell

Summary:
It's a very good preamp which has a very neutral and detailed character. It is very fast unlike other transistor preamps and should be partnered with fast and dynamic power amps in ordert to achieve its full potential.
Please note that it incorporates one of the finest phonos available inthe world, perhaps its phono stage is even better than the line stage. When I auditioned it with a pair of Mimesis 8.4 monoblocks, I was stunned by the clarity and transparency in the mids, the fast,agile bass which is very realistic and truthful, not overrated as many American amps tend to sound in the low end.

It is a very good choice to partner it with a valve power amp(s) as your set up will combine both the advantages of the transistors and valve philosophies.

Your appreciation of this amp grows the more time you listen to it as you realise that it presents music in a real manner, it is neutral and very much balanced. The image and depth are fantastic, almost to a valve effect while the position of the instruments or the voices in space is simply the best I've ever heard. Of course the Proac 4, the speaker I listened to was also top quality speaker which could match the performance of this remarkable preamp.

I give 4 and a half stars in this preamp for its line stage and 5 stars for its phono stage.

Summary:
Great product. It's old (I know), but I just think that it's awesome:
Like all other preamps, it's got noise. You can turn the volume up without putting any signal in to it and hear hissing noises and occaisionally some hum. But once you put some music on, suddenly the noise dissappears, and out comes some of the purest music that I've ever heard, I chose it after comparing it to Goldmunds reference model (Mimesis 2), Jeff Rowland's Synergy, but the inexpensive 7 sounded better.

Japanese pre-amps tend to have almost no noise when no signal goes through, but start sounding noisy once you play music. The Goldmund is just the opposite. How does Goldmund do that?!