Your preamp experience

[trio leo]

Never had to use a dac as a pre due to having a mainly vinyl system, I have however owned and tried some very good pre-amps, my last one was a Spectral DMC 12 and very good it was too IMHO.

The Albarry AP11 is doing the job superbly with a very fine mm phono stage built in, it just has a beautiful articulation and an involvement that I enjoy.
The Nagra Jazz is probably the best pre I've heard so far, but I don't think it has a phono stage and it is £9000, wonderful pre if you can afford it.

just my 2 penneth

enjoy your music

regards Al

[User211]

I use a Restek Consens active remote controlled pre-amp and it's brilliant. The best pre (active or passive or none at all) that I've heard.

But the little Tisbury passive pre is excellent too - and way cheaper!

Yup I had that Restek for a while and I liked it a lot.

But I prefer the Cayin C100 (modified SC10) valve pre I have, or the excellent Air Tight ATL10a passive. I never thought I'd move away from the Air Tight but god do I like the Cayin and I'm defo using it more than the 'Tight. I seriously rate it.

[mr sneff]

I have tried three preamps, a lightspeed and two tube jobbies. I was a bit underwhelmed to be honest. The lightspeed was the best but I ended going back to using my dac as a preamp.
I want to try the new Bushmaster which does not have a preamp function so I want to hear opinions on your experiences and what you would recommend for a tight old skinflint like me.

I've only used 2 preamps, a Linn Kairn into 2 LK100s and, more recently a Quad 34 into a 303. Last week I bought a Matrix Mini DAC off of eBay like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matrix-min...item20c30685f5,except I bought a secondhand one. You can use it either with a fixed output into a preamp or configure it with a variable output obviating the need for a preamp. I much prefer using the variable output straight into the 303, even though the fixed output, which also switches off the headphone output, is claimed sound better. I can run my laptop into it via the USB input and use my Pioneer PD S705 as a transport via the SPDIF input. The sound just has more life and vibrancy than through the 34.

[jandl100]

I've only used 2 preamps, a Linn Kairn into 2 LK100s and, more recently a Quad 34 into a 303. Last week I bought a Matrix Mini DAC off of eBay like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matrix-min...item20c30685f5,except I bought a secondhand one. You can use it either with a fixed output into a preamp or configure it with a variable output obviating the need for a preamp. I much prefer using the variable output straight into the 303, even though the fixed output, which also switches off the headphone output, is claimed sound better. I can run my laptop into it via the USB input and use my Pioneer PD S705 as a transport via the SPDIF input. The sound just has more life and vibrancy than through the 34.

Well, not too surprising. Quad make some excellent kit, but ime their pre-amps have always let the side down, sounding quite bland, opaque and smoothed over.
The Linn Kairn is none too exciting a listen, either.

Try a Tisbury passive pre if you want a fairly inexpensive way to hear what the rest of your system is really capable of!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1710628292...84.m1423.l2649

[mr sneff]

Try a Tisbury passive pre if you want a fairly inexpensive way to hear what the rest of your system is really capable of! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1710628292...84.m1423.l2649

Yes, I've heard good reports about the Tisbury, but, as I just use the laptop and the CD player I don't really need a preamp, passive or otherwise.