My logic of buying this pre-amp came from the idea of reading the trade show reports from the gurus of audio magazines around the world. Why bothers spending time and money to make countless visits to the local audio stores in order to seach for the best matching gears which very often turned out to be a very daunting task and also disappointing. So let's the pros pick it for you. Here it is: P5 is my third pre-amp in less than a year and by far it has not yet disappointed me. The absence of noise is a big plus as compared to other models in the same class which allows you to hear more music whether at a rock concert sound pressure level or at night time listening level. Overall sonic performances of the P5 are no doubt, definitely first class and among the finest. My associates gears include:
Sonic Frontiers SFCD1 with tubed output stage
Sonic Frontiers Line3 tubed pre-amp
SimAudio W5 amp
Gershman Acoustics Avant Garde speakers
Wireworld Polaris III cables through out

Looks Goods

Very bland, covers corners, not at all precise.

09.11.1999.

A lot of audio magazines have submitted a great review for this product from Canada, and I purchased one on their recommendations. The product looks great but sounds really poor. It is extremely efficient at changing the acoustical qualities of well recorded cd's. It cuts corners and in far from being accurate. Very subdued, although handles noise levels very efficiently. I expected far greater performances from a 2 box pre-amp with such great reviews.
The Mark Levinson 380 S [Being a single box pre-amp] out performs this one by a country mile. I guess it would not be fare to compare this pre-amp to a Sonic Frontiers Line 2 since the Line 2 has a tube output stage, and is a great pre-amp.
The P-5 was a grave error and a total disappointment.

Similar Products Used:

Sonic Frontiers Line 2, Mark Levinson 380 S.

Beautiful looking, sounds great and very versatile. Can be used as an amplifier or a pre-amplifier.

Non yet!

I took home a used SimAudio Moon I-5 integrated amp the other night for auditioning. $2100, 9 ½ years left on the ten year warranty, mint condition. List price - new : $3200 (Canadian)

I have to say, I started to like this amp when I hooked it up to my PSB Stratus Goldi's, but there was something missing. Very quick, detailed and musical but something definitely missing. It just didn't quite have the presence or impact that I expected. Oh well, what can you expect? After all, it's a 70 watt integrated amp (110 watts to my 4 ohm PSBs). Still, it sounded very good, probably the best integrated amp I have ever heard.

Now usually, whenever I am unsatisfied with the sound of my audio system, I go into tweak mode. You know the drill, change the interconnects, move the speakers, go back to single wire as opposed to bi-wire, etc. Earlier, I had noticed that there was a pre-out connection on the back of the unit, so I decided to hook up my 20 year old bridged Crown D150A amps to the I-5.

This is where I fell in love with the Moon as a pre-amp. Just beautiful. The clarity and control of the Moon coupled with the power of the Crowns is a match that I could definitely live with until the time comes when I am ready to upgrade my amplifier(s). I figure that I am either going to buy this unit or the Moon Series P-3 or P-5 Preamplifier (depending on price). If either of these pre-amps sound as good as the I-5, I'm sold.

November 10, 1999 - Update!
Well, I bought the I-5, but before I plunked down the cash, I auditioned the SimAudio Moon P-3 pre-amplifier at home. I still thought the I-5 was a better choice for me at this point in time. It just seemed to do a better job of taming my Crown amps.

Very happy with this integrated amp.

Similar Products Used:

SimAudio Moon P-3, Bryston BP.4, Crown IC150

Very transparent, quiet, quick, accurate

perhaps and I stress perhaps a bit lean or reserved

I received the unit brand new and out of the box I was NOT impressed at all (the aesthetic of the unit did impress me) by the sound. Over the next 2 days I gradually began to warm up to my new toy. I would suggest you allow 2 to 3 months of break in for the unit (trust me, this is not tweaky hocus pocus, it really does require a long time to break in). I use the unit with the Kora 100SB Triode amps and the Sony SACD SCD1 player (recent addition and upgrade from my Meitner Bidat and Esoteric P2S rig (no slouches either)). The speakers are modified Rush Monument II's (www.poweredspeakers.com). The unit can as I found sound a bit more reserved than I am accustomed too. I started becoming concerned after 2 months of break in time, but... I (perhaps I am silly for not doing this in the 1st place) put the power supply on a seperate shelf and low and behold things opened up (i.e. the sound was more fleshed out) and not nearly as reserved or sterile sounding. I stacked them probably due to the design which IMHO leads one to do so. It makes a difference, DO NOT STACK THE UNITS. The transparency of the unit is startling and it actually seems to have no signature that I can rightly speak of, it just gives me what I need, that being the ability to adjust the gain of the signal to my amps. Comparatively speaking the Joule is a tad warmer and euphoric thus it does not dissapear from the chain of components as does the P5, the Joule has a signature. The Pass unit while very quite and quick did some strange things that caused me to seek out a recording engineer in the Chicago area to confirm my findings, I will attempt to explain...I found that on the CD entitled "Jazz for when your alone" on 1st track there is a sax solo with a piano in the background. This is rendered completely wrong with the Pass unit (I am not knocking Pass gear as I very much like his products and am looking forward to auditioning the XO, but the truth is the truth). The piano is brought to the forefront of the stage, how this happens I don't know, but the Meitenr (using its own volume control did not do this), nor did the Monarchy Audio 22C DA w/internal volume control. I also tried different amps just in case, but wherever the Pass was, the piano just kept coming up front. I took the CD to a local high end shop and played it through the following equipment: Naim CDS w/external PS, Nagra PLP preamp and Dunclavy Speakers... the result, it sounded like all my other gear and not at all like the Pass. I got rid of the Pass. If you have an Aleph P and want to try this the CD is titled earlier in this review and is on the "32Jazz" label. www.32records.com 800-771-9553. Now that I have said all that, the P5 plays the track absolutely correct. Thus far I have not heard a superior preamp. Remember, give it ample break in time, I suggest High quality copper interconnect (not silver), and don't stack the units. It really is world class and my unit is still breaking in as it is only 2 months old. $4k may not be cheap but in the world of $16K preamps (i.e. the CJ/ART) it really can be looked at as a bargain. Thank you for entertaining my humble insights.
Best regards,
Mike

Similar Products Used:

Nelson Pass Apeph P, Joule Electra LA100 MKII

Musical, Smooth Midrange and to end, Bass definition

The previous commentary is right on the button. His experience mirrors mine completely. Do not stack the unit on the power supply. I tried this and paid for it sonically. Do give it a long time to break in, over a month. Pay attention to this and you will really enjoy this preamp. The usual superlatives apply (bass, smooth top, wide deep soundstage, imaging), but what makes this preamp stand out is that it conveys the essence of the music.

I compared it with Audio research, Aragon and Sonic Fronteirs and preferred this unit. The Audio Research had more detail, but the P5 was much more enjoyable.

Build Quality
Looks [asthetically very pleasing]
Seperate Power Supply

Not Transparent
Poor Dynamics
Only 1 XLR Balanced Input
Poor IR Remote Control
Volume Jog moves very fast and volume inflates very quickly

15th June, 2001.

SIMAUDIO MOON P-5 PRE AMPLIFIER

Serial Number :- A 081291 – PRE.

Date of Purchase / Delivery :- 19th October, 1999.

Price Paid :- US $ 3,344/- + transport cost from Canada to Mumbai [Bombay] + Customs Duty [Indian].

A well built Pre Amplifier. 2 Chassis; 1 pre amplifier, 1 power supply.
Reasonably good sounding, but probably works best with Simaudio W-5 Power Amplifiers. I was using it with Bryston 7B ST Mono Blocks and I was not particularly ‘moved’ with ‘emotions’ when I played my favorite music. My front end too was Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD Player [Serial Number A 211294 – CD].

I tried the same front end with Mark Levinson ML380 & Bryston BP 25 [both pre amplifiers], keeping the power amplifiers, cables and speakers constant and the ML sounded more ‘open’ and ‘coherent’, more life like, while the BP 25 was in a different league [not because the pre amplifier is better, but just that the ‘synergy’ between the pre and power amplifiers was present].

I would have preferred the pre amplifiers to be supplied with 2 balanced inputs [for evaluating different CD Players and / or attaching 2 components with balanced outputs].

I would also have preferred the ‘volume jog’ / ‘spindle’ to have been a little less smoother, the volume increase and decrease is very fast and one has to be very careful in using it.

The remote control definitely needs to be replaced. It not only weighs a ton and is too long and big, but is one of the most confusing IR Remote Control I have ever used or come across.

To give the pre amplifier the benefit of the doubt, it may sound better when used along with its own power amplifier [W-5], but as a stand alone pre amplifier to be used with other brands of power amplifier; is a different story altogether, I would not recommend the same.





Testing and review carried out with :-

A] Equipment

Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD Player
Electrocompaniet EMC-1 CD Player
Ultech Audio UCD-100 CD Player
Simaudio P-5 Pre Amplifier
Bryston BP-25 Pre Amplifier
Bryston 7B ST Power Amplifier
Dynaudio Confidence 5 Loudspeakers
vdH [Van den Hul] ‘The Second’ Balanced XLR Interconnect
vdH [Van Den Hul] ‘The Revelation’ Speaker Cable

B] Music

M.A. Recordings - Begona Olavide / Mudejar MA042A
Water Lily Acoustics - Tabula Rasa WLA-CS-44-CD
ECM Records – Making Music / Zakir Hussain ECM – 1349
Moment Records – Ustad Sultan Khan MRCD – 1006
Reference Recordings – TUTTI ! RR-906CD
Telarc – A tribute to Oscar Peterson CD – 83401
Chesky Records – The Raven / Rebecca Pidgeon JD 115
Mercury – Essential / Yello 512 390 – 2

Mazher Bashir JAFFAR

15th June, 2001.

Mumbai [Bombay] INDIA

e-mail :- schwinn@bol.net.in

www.schwinnwarehousing.com

Similar Products Used:

Mark Levinson ML 38
Bryston BP-25
Adcom GFA750
Meridian 502

This is sort of a followup to my Moon P5 review. The unit continues to impress and the harmonic tapestry blooms more and more with time. The real reason for the followup is to add to the comments I made about the Pass Labs Aleph P in my review. I found the culprit, simply a defective Aleph P. It seems that there was a gain imbalance between the 2 channels even when the individual gain controls were set to the same level. Also it would appear as though the channels on the balanced inputs or outputs were inverted (i.e. left to right, not the configuration of pins 2 and 3 within the XLR connector). I thought it important to make it known that this is not indicative of the Aleph P, but rather of one seemingly defective unit. I might also add that this is the only defective Pass product I have ever been privy too.

Thanks and regards,

Mike

Similar Products Used:

Aleph P