Originally Posted by
jandl100
Preamps, even more than most gear except maybe speakers, are a very personal thing.
You can't really go on rep or reviews, it really does come down to a combo of personal taste and system synergy. You just have to try the damn things in your own system with your own music choices and your own ears.
I recently had a Puresound L10 - it didn't last long here. While it didn't do anything wrong, it didn't really manage to capture my attention. Watch out for insufficient gain issues with the L10 as well, only about +5dB I think, low anyway, and sometimes I had it at max wishing there was just a little more to be had. It all depends on the overall gain of your system.
Others love it - the chap I sold mine to soon moved it on - because it so impressed him he spent Big £Moolah on the Puresound L300!
Whereas the Herron valve pre has settled right in and I expect it to be here for quite a while. Love it.
Disastrous experience with a demmed ARC LS26 - just sounded vague, coloured and awful.
I was using a Schiit Saga passive pre for quite a while and really liked it - but I'd be fibbing if I said it was as good as the Herron.
I've had bad experiences with even expensive AudioSynthesis passive preamps - they seem to suck the dynamics out of the music. Although someone else said you needed to go with the ones with balanced connections - maybe so. Other folks love them in any guise.
A Restek Consens transistor pre stayed for getting on for 2 years (blimey!) and really hit the spot. I guess I really only moved it on because I was tired of looking at it!
A left-field Lexicon MC-1 AV pre/processor used in pure pre mode was amazingly good, £350. Sold it after a while to a high-end-focused forum chap who wanted a cheap temporary stand-in and he too was amazed how good it was! You never can tell.
So, yep, no short cuts to be had, imo. You just got to try the darn things and hope for the best.
yes so true , however after i miserably had to sell my ref 5se [ new ] to fund a house , i had a L10 and it was such a consolation , although the ref 5se was streets ahead in terms of realism i just found the L10 so musical and really worked well with my amps
am i right in thinking the satchmo is based on the herron pre , i have the schiit saga now thanks to jerry with the firebottle mononblocks and it sure is good , i am sure that nice ref 3 at midland audio would beat it , and the satchmo though
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