Musically satisfying,huge soundstage, body,sweet and delicate and the bass from this tube unit is unbelievable.

None so far.

I have been upgrading my current system for about two years.I have been very happy with my existing components but as always you think you can upgrade your sound quality or think there is something missing.So what you do is start changing cables,powercords,speaker wires and yes there are differences but still you find something missing.I could not put my finger on what I was missing but still I auditioned on.Finally after reading many reviews and my local dealer telling me Hey "Louie" You've got to TUBE it to get the heart and soul of the music.So I took his advice "WOW" and took home the Rogue 99 that he has been telling me to take home for the last 6-months.To make a long story short,this pre-amp is just in one word "Awesome"Its wonderful rich sound is just to die for.I have played all my cd collection from light jazz, classical to hard rock and everthing just sounds musically satisfying.The pre-amp that I was using up till I bought the 99 was a Classe CP35 and it has been a wonderful pre-amp but everthing has its time and its time was now up.My system consists of a Bryston 14b,Vandersteen 2ce Signatures, Classe CDP.3 and now a Rogue 99 wired with XLO interconnect cables and Vandenhull speaker wire.I would like to thank the boys at Allied Tv and Sound for all their help and expert advice. Components used Bryston 14B Classe CP35 Vandersteen 2ce Classe CDP.3 XLO,Vandenhull

Similar Products Used:

Kora,Bryston,Audio-Aero.Pre-amps all auditioned.

This is a follow-up with news for all 99 owners. My power supply hummed a bit, and I heard that this was true for someone else too. I called Rogue, and they told me to -- hold onto your hats -- DRILL A HOLE into one end of the power supply, fill the whole thing with dry, clean sand, and cap it.

So I did. (I got a rubber 1/2 inch plumbing cap -- worked real well.)

Long story short - NOT ONLY DID THE TRANSFORMER HUM COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR, THE TUBE HUM WENT FROM NORMAL TO ALMOST NOTHING!!!!!

This was more than a tweak -- the whole unit actually works and sounds better -- lower noise floor and no extraneous sounds. There wasn't a lot to begin with, but now it's dead quiet (or at least as dead as a very quiet tube unit can be).

FWIW, the Rogue engineer who talked me through the operation said he was worried about thermal heat building up, but he found that the increased mass from the sand actually made the unit run cooler -- perhaps this explains some of the improvement in sound.

They told me it isn't the case that all of the transformers hum, but some do, so if yours does, call Rogue and have them talk you through the procedure. It's easy, quick and it really works!

I'd move from my original 5 star rating to a 5+ now.

superb sound in a truly full featured tubed unit

none worth mentioning (see review for all details)

I am the proud owner of a brand new Rogue 99 with phono stage and I could not be happier.

My last preamp was the stellar sounding Melos SHA-Gold (yes, I'm aware that they are supposed to be unreliable and the service is supposed to suck out loud, but mine worked perfectly so I never had either of these complaints). Prior to that I had another star performer, the Sonic Frontiers SFL-1. Yes, you have to make some adjustments for price and vintage of this unit, but in its day and for its price, the SFL-1 was a wonderful piece of musical equipment.

So I'm kind of spoiled and I have high expectations.

In fact, I would never have gotten rid of the Melos except that I wanted a phono stage and didn't want an extra box and an extra set of interconnects. I'd wanted to buy a used CAT until I found out they don't have remote control. I also liked having a headphone jack (and the Melos was known as a class A headphone amp). I assumed that I would have to sacrifice the headphone jack in order to get a full featured preamp with remote.

I also like tube preamps. I run Bryston 7B-ST's and they are superlative mated when anything, but MORE superlative (pun intended) when mated with tubes than with solid state (in my opinion, of course). This excluded some great contenders (I was always curious about the Ayre line), but so be it.

Then the Rogue 99 came out. 4 tube for the line stage, 4 more for the phono. And it has the most solid remote I've ever held. And a headphone jack. Wow.

I had to try it. Having no local dealer, I went directly to Rogue and ultimately to Target HiFi (off the net) from Bradenton Florida. Everyone – Mark O'Brien from Rogue and Bob something from Target were excellent people to deal with.

The preamp arrived and I hooked it up to the rest of the system – the 7B's, a Micromega Stage 2 (that probably is spending its last year in the system before being demoted to the bedroom system), a WellTempered TT with Goldring Eroica cartridge, Tara Decade IC/MGII speaker cables, a Blue Circle Power Pillow, and some fancy AC cords. And of course, dedicated power.

Any difference from the superb sound of the Melos. Hell yes. Bigger. Cleaner top end, with a larger soundstage. Out of the box, the bass was larger but not as tight. Break-in cured this, and now the bass, too, is "expanded" somehow. The magic tubes made all vocals more palpable and sweeter. There was an across the board improvement that is hard to describe. It wasn't more gain or a darker background (the Melos had these in spades), but the integration of the sound was better. It had a more living presence than before. It made me want to play everything I owned again. Of course, any new toy has the possibility of this happening, and I wanted to try to stay objective.

I knew I was objective when I listened to the phono stage. I didn't like it at all. I assumed that it was all about burn-in, but it wasn't. Then I opened the box and saw that two of the tubes were AU7's – not enough gain for my little cartridge. So I called Mark at Rogue, he sent me AX7's right away, and once they came – MAGIC. That god-damned vinyl magic. It's all true. I hate to admit it. For me, I'm not gonna go back and spend the money it takes to have a truly amazing vinyl front end – it's demented what it costs – but I have a few hundred excellent albums and I want them to sound reasonably as good as good cd, which is pretty good over my system. So now I can plop on a vintage jazz album and it sounds as rich as a new digital mastered house cd or a ddd classical cut. If it isn't already obvious, I'm happy.

Next, the headphone jack. It sits in the back of the preamp – not the most convenient place. And, not to grouse, but it isn't up to the competition presented by the Melos. Mark at Rogue has explained to me that the Melos had an extra output stage in the headphone circuit, and that it gives it a lot of gain. The Rogue runs directly out of its own stage, making it cleaner but lower output. The reason I preferred the Melos is that I'm running so-so headphones (the $95 Grado SR80 – I love them for the price), and that if I ran something higher quality and perhaps more efficient, I'd actually prefer the Rogue. Time and money will tell. For the moment, I listen to phones at work, and working out, and only rarely at home on the main system, so even if the Rogue isn't there with the Melos, it's a very small difference, and not one that matters much to me. But Mark, move the jack to the front of the unit somewhere! Even if it is an aesthetic compromise.

Did I hear someone say aesthetics? It's a nice looking unit with a beefy faceplate in fashionable silver, or as mine is, in "any color as long as it's" black.

And the price? A totally reasonable $2400, and a giant killer at the price, if you ask me. Bob at Target took my Melos in trade and made me a great deal. I won't discuss specifics here, but he was more than fair.

Bottom line? If you, like me, demand and want a really nice, clean, clear sounding preamp, buy the 99. If you also want tubes, remote, phono, and the option to listen to phones, and you want it all in one good looking box that sells for a very very reasonable price (given its quality), buy the Rogue 99. There is no other choice.

Just in case you think that the music that one listens to makes a difference, I listen to house/trance/jazz/rock/classical/opera/world/reggae/blues/folk/funk/r&b/fusion/hiphop/and only the tiniest bit of country (mainly Johnny Cash....hehe).

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melos sha-gold, sonic fontiers sfl-1

this preamp is an instant classic! It is surely one of the best in the world.from mitchell to metallica it can do it all.this preamp has brought out the best of every recording it has been faced with.this preamp is so transparent I no longer have a specific sweet spot.I can sit at either end of my couch and get a different perspective of the music.just like sitting stage right or left.my rather large paradigm studio 80s have simply vanished!this preamp is strain free and effortlessly smooth.the high frequencies are airy and extended the midrange rich and pure the bass deep tight and kicks ass! sorry if I gush but I have heard the best preamps but have heard none for under $6000.00 as good.My only regret is not buying this breakthrough product sooner.I was leary due to lack of knowledge of Rogue audio.I went on faith of my dealers advice and he was right on the money.I want to thank Mario,owner of toys from the attic info@tfta.com for the time he has spent with me and all the great deals he has given me.Buy this preamp and you will be floored.

none

hurry and get this before the price goes up! related equipment: grado platinum cartridge rega planar-25 Rb600 arm lehmann black cube dyna ST-70 nos tubes paradigm studio-80s kimber pbjs tara space and time bright star audio big rock vibrapods,tender feet home made rack and T.T. shelf

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too many auditioned to remember

Sweet, euphoric sound of tube with detail of solid state. Very attractive looking unit.

If you have an early unit before engineering change was applied at factory, have to send unit back to Rogue for free upgrade to slow down rate of change of volume from remote. Without upgrade, remote is unusable to make small volume changes. Would have been nice to have power on/off on remote, and if could be done without affecting sonic qualities or raising the price much, would be nice to have a balance control on the unit and on the remote and a source select on the remote.

Has to be one of the best values out there. Sounds as good as or better than B.A.T. at half the price. Have friend that visits out of town high end audio dealers and always asks about Rogue if they don't carry. Answer usually is great stuff but you won't see it in this store because we wouldn't be able to sell other equipment costing 2-3 times as much!
Other equipment in this system:
Rogue Audio model 88 amp with KT88 tubes
Jolida 601 tube output CD player
Canton model 80 speakers
Kimber Kable 4TC speaker wire
Kimber Kable Silver Steak interconnects

clarity of music especially female vocal
jazz

The only think i could say is that, not
much publicy compared to cj, mark L,
sf, cary, but overall the sound is more
alive, dynamic.

nothing more to say but this pre-amp
could compete on high end component caliber...

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mcintosh 275(pair), cj-pv10a, rega planet

mind blowing imaging, sweet airy & super detailed!
Everything I have heard tubed pre's should do.

Maybe no way to use my sub?? checking into it now.

Never before in any of the threads I have read reviews on,
can I agree with every single review below me so far!
I cannot believe what this thing does to my system. I am
using a 3 month old Sonic Frontiers L2 and this Rogue 99
just eats it's lunch...in every department! I know from
the below reviews it's not just me :o)
When I got this thing home tonite for an in home audition
and listened for 5 minutes, I had to run and see if there
were reviews here and bingo, my thoughts are confimed.

It's a keeper even if I have to sell my sub! I hope there
is a way to use it though.
Anybody want a cheap SF L2??

Buy it if you want to transform your system and re-enjoy
all of your recordings all over again.

Five stars all the way!

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Krell KRC-2, Sonic Frontiers Line 2 and others.

Solid state dynamics with tube sweetness, Impressive build quality, price to performance ratio is trough the roof

none at the price, in fact none even if it was twice as much

Everything the reviews say is true! This piece is destined for class A rating. An exceptional preamp at outrageously good price. This preamp will engross you in the music to the point that you are taken to the event itself. I can't wait to see the MAGNUM version. At any sane price, it just doesn't get any better than this.

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Quicksilver, Monarchy, McCormack, Luxman, Krell, BAT, Cary, and Jeff Rowland

Transparant (heard this a lot on numerous reviews throughout this web site but before this, I never really experianced it) Soundstage, presence, dynamics, bass, incredible midrage,silky smooth highs, involving, - puts you there.

are you kidding, didn't you read the above block!

What can I say. There is no longer ANY reason to leave the house! As I have been auditioning pre's for the past several months in my system (odyssey Stratos, Sonus Faber Grand Piano speakers, Sherwood Newcastle CD) I found that generally the price/performance ratio stands. All of the above pre's had their strengths and shortcommings, I won' bore you with the details (E-mail me Lauria217@aol.com) if you want more info on them. As soom as I hooked up the Rogue 99 I immediately noticed a difference. I kept playing it all night with all my music, looking for something that pulled out a weekness in the Rogue, I couldn't find it. As another reviewer sait "it sounds great with all kinds of music." I could go on and on but you, as I , probably dislike the long reviews. LISTEN to this unit, you will be blown away. Without question a sonic religious experiance.

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Proceed pre, Forte.44, Acurus RL11, Rotel 992, Adcom 710, Parasound, HK

Good soundstaging, sweet mid and highs.

Can sound a bit dark with SS amps, strange vibrating power supply unit (twin transformers within)

Compared this amp with top line YBA pre-amp costing over five times. The Rogue held its own and won me over. Thius pre amp can heck it in any system, I believe.

Use this amp with my bedroom system, driving VTL 70 and Epos ES12. Front end is Sony CDP X3000ES. Very detailed and wide, deep soundstage. Did not mate as well with my solid state Plinius SA100, where the SF Line 1 fared better. However, the timbre from the Rogue 99 is more natural than the Line 1. Vocals are better rendered and room acoustics (reverb) is reproduced more clearly. Clearly the strengths of 6SN7 tubes?

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Line 1