Bhandco

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.60 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $5300.00

Summary:
My MP-3 has the Teflon cap and power supply regulator options. A wonderful preamplifier. Remarkable bandwidth and dynamics with neutral, natural, lifelike tone. Exceptionally quiet for tube gear, with outstanding clarity and detail. Soundstaging and imaging are precise, with glorious reproduction of room ambience. My experience with other high-end tubed preamps is that they can easily sound "transparent" at the expense of bandwidth. (Their "transparency" sometimes reminds me of thin, watered-down soup.) They roll off the trebles and deprive you of a naturally fulfilling bass experience. In fact, compared with the MP-3, my previous tubed preamps have had almost no bass presence or harmonic accuracy at all. (And solid-state preamps don't deserve discussion!) I would describe my MP-3's sound as big and bold--but not forward--and faithful to the music. I've used the MP-3 with a solid-state Ayre V-5xe amplifier and the combination is impressive--I would absolutely recommend it--but, so far, the MP-3 is even better with my new M-60 monoblocks. They compliment each other nicely. I've tried substituting some expensive NOS tubes and, although some of the midrange sounds were quite seductive, I prefer the bandwidth and linearity of the stock Chinese tubes. They're inexpensive and quiet. I thought I was going to miss having a remote control, but I don't--not in the least. If I ever long for a remote, I'll simply move my preamp and sources next to my listening chair. The MP-3 will supposedly drive 200' interconnects with no loss. Right now, I'm using 25' Mogami microphone cables; they sound great and they're a lot less expensive than the interconnects I normally use. My only real criticism of the MP-3 is that the top is prone to vibration, but this is easily remedied by running it with the top removed. Atma-Sphere offers a vibration damping option, but I'd rather look at my preamp tubes and spend my money on records. Speaking of which, please make full use of the MP-3's phono stage. I had a wonderful Graham Slee Era Gold V phono stage I thought I'd never replace--until I heard the MP-3. I immediately installed a lower-output Benz cartridge to match. I love the MP-3's resistor loading: a simple terminal strip on the back of the preamp--easy, flexible, precise, and kind of fun to experiment with. If you intend to use the MP-3 as a linestage only, you'll be amazed by what it does to smooth the sound of your CDs, and the balanced differential circuitry really eats up digital grunge. Of course, you'll do best with a high-quality balanced CD player. Overall, I wasn't surprised to learn that Atma-Sphere has been manufacturing preamps since 1989. Their experience really shows in the evolved, intelligent design and sheer practicality of the MP-3.

Strengths:
Extraordinary sound. Evolved, practical design.

Weaknesses:
Occasional vibration with dirty power.

Similar Products Used:
Aesthetix Calypso linestage Blue Circle BC3 Despina Mark II linestage Ayre K-5xe linestage Graham Slee Era Gold V phonostage

Price Paid:  $4400.00 from Atmasphere

Summary:
Unit owned included phono stage and teflon-cap upgrade. Stock phono stage tubes sound rough and 2-dimensional, and should be replaced. Phono stage VERY noisy. Had warranty issues that required sending the unit back to the factory two times. Poor build quality. Can sound very good with the right tubes and upgrades. Best with non-complex music. See my full review at www.21stcenturyservices.com/audio. ("Price paid" is list.)

Strengths:
WITH NEW PHONO TUBES AND OTHER TWEAKS, can sound excellent on some music. A tweaker's dream.

Weaknesses:
Noise, build quality, no remote bothers some people more than others.

Similar Products Used:
CAT Ultimate, Rowland Synergy IIi pre with Cadence phono, Ayre K3x, ARC LS 16 mk. 2, ARC LS 25 mk. 2, Tom Evans Microgroove+ and Groove phono stages, etc.