My kit and a possible purchase of Tom Evans The Vibe or Tom Evan Groove+ SRX

As some of you know by now, I like to listen to kit in my set-up to hear what the black or silver boxes are all about, which means that quite a lot of small and large boxes have been through my small study. Some of the components were here because I traded for them, other components because I decided to buy them, often because I simply had to listen to what they could do in my set-up. However, I am sure that some of the kit I had here were not given the opportunity to shine the way they could have if they had been matched better than they were here. In the past my kit changed so often that I never really had a stable starting point. Unlike other audio freaks I never had the money to own two or three expensive amps at the same time. So perhaps I let some kit go I would have kept if I had had my present set-up.

Thankfully, I have found four items now that I trust will remain here indefinitely:

(1) Empire 698 - I saw it advertised, liked it and was able to snap it up as the first responder last month. It ended 35 years' Thorens TD160 Super/TD 147 Jubilee supremacy. My only brief detour was an Amazon Audio Reference TT.

https://i.imgur.com/V6x81q0l.jpg

(2) B&O Beocord 6500 Cassette Deck - not the very best that Bang & Olufsen produced but its unique drawer design and great playback quality makes this Danish-made cassette deck a keeper.

https://i.imgur.com/F3dK7lql.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Tqanm4Gl.jpg

(3) EAR 516 power amp - which Tim De Paravicini said is perfect with my current speakers. He serviced it for 7-8 hours in 2018 and I talked with him on the phone about the EAR 516 and Quad ESL 57s. I may decide to buy a Leak Stereo 20 as a spare power amp. I already have a Leak Stereo 60 (solid state) and a Leak Stereofetic FM Tuner with JBL LX310 speakers in my separate tuner system.

https://i.imgur.com/ndEpzjel.jpg

The Leaks:
https://i.imgur.com/dbif7h9l.jpg

(4) Quad ESL 57 - with One Thing bass panels - which I bought from the UK (courtesy of iansr). Ian bought boxes for me (I paid) and packed the pair of speakers extremely well for shipment to me in Denmark. These are the true jewels in my set-up, placed up high on shelves and strapped to the side-walls of my study, leaning out so they allow me to sit in the sweet spot.

https://i.imgur.com/1tunI2Bl.jpg

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Other kit:

I have a Line Magnetic 502CA Dac that sounds very lush and detailed here with its valve output "euphonizer". It will take a lot to replace this sweet component but if I ever find a very good cd player with COAX and/or usb input(s) I may decide to sell this on.

https://i.imgur.com/MCd0T6ll.jpg

I have a DIY DCB1 preamp with a nice mm phono stage onboard (built by disarmamant). This sounds very sweet and transparent in my set-up and may very well be the preamp to end all other preamps. It has gain on the low side but 2 o'clock makes any vinyl record or computer music file sound as loud as I can stand. So lacking gain is not a real problem, I know.

https://i.imgur.com/KY6mMHRl.jpg

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After the phono stage sells I can choose to buy a nice (last?) preamp that would relegate my Diy DCB1 to mm phono stage duty, or I can choose to buy another excellent phono stage and keep my Diy DCB1 as my permanent preamp.

(1) I have set my eyes on Tom Evans The Vibe as my first choice for a preamp on the basis of a few reviews on-line. However much I would love to try it before buying, this is not an option as I live in Denmark.

So are there any good people here who can say a bit about Tom Evans the Vibe in the context of their own set-ups - why its a keeper or why they decided to sell it on?

(2) The other option is his phono stage, the Tom Evans Groove+ SRX. Are there anyone here who currently own this or has owned this and would care to comment on it?

I owned both the Vibe and the Groove for about ten years. They worked very well as a combination, and Tom Evans was very helpful if any problems arose (which they rarely did). I used them with both SS and valve power amps, and with a range of different cartridges, always with excellent results. I'd probably still be using them now had I not decided to go down the 'one box' route.

Just to add: the Vibe is very basic; no remote, no controls other than source and volume.

Thanks Joe.
I sit 4 feet away from the component stack so a remote is not strictly necessary.

What did you buy as a one one box solution and is there anything in particular that your new box doesn't get you?

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Originally Posted by Rosewind

Thanks Joe.
I sit 4 feet away from the component stack so a remote is not strictly necessary.

What did you buy as a one one box solution and is there anything in particular that your new box doesn't get you?

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I bought a Devialet Premier in 2013 with part of my early retirement pay-off. I don't actually miss anything compared to the previous system; the Devialet has an excellent built-in DAC, and a phono stage that's as good as that on the Groove and which is user-adjustable if I change cartridges (though I've actually kept the same cartridge for ten years or so!). Remote control is a boon as I'm sat about ten feet away from the system.

Good choice for a one-box solution. I listened to a Devialet Chrome box way back when they were introduced and while it sounded clear and delightful, I was not sure that it sounded more to my liking than the set-up I had back then: Naim Nac 252/SC + 2 x Naim Nap 200 in an active set-up with a Linn Tunebox and Linn Ninka speakers.

When we eventually move into a smaller house or apartment, Devialet will be on the one-box solution list, no doubt. That won't be for another ... 15-20 years, I hope. I just turned 57 today and still have 10 years to go until retirement.

For now I am looking at Tom Evans "The Vibe" with "the Pulse" psu and the Tom Evans Groove+ SRX phono stage. So would love to hear a bit more about those two units from present and past owners.

The Vibe is as everyone says, silent and neutral, as close to a straight wire with gain as you'll get. If that's what you want then fill your boots, you won't get much better IMHO.

Downsides? Tom's sense of style is a little challenging to many, and the pots which are made much of feel a bit cheap although they are apparently mil. Spec and excellent. And the Vibe itself weight almost nothing so you can't use stiff or silly jumbo interconnects without them dictating where the pre it going to sit as they will just push it around.
Mine worked flawlessly FWIW. I sold on when an Arcadia arrived, as I like what that does in my system.

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Thnks Jazid!
I think that many of our choices are dictated by what the amp or source component does in our systems. For instance I am pretty sure that I will never ever have a McIntosh pre in my system again as did not like the sound signature of that C48. I suppose that this might have changed now that I have the EAR 516 with ESL 57s.

As straight wires go, I already have a straight wire without gain, I feel, in my DIY DCB1 ... so I know that kind of sound. I just hope that the "vibe" from the Tom Evans The Vibe will improve a great deal on the already good Diy DC B1 I have here. If I do go down that route.

Just a thought, Peter. Re. Tom Evans, he worked in conjunction with John Michell on some products (Alectos, e.g.). One such was the ISO m/c stage with sep. power supply (Hera?). I had this with Naim, Roksan and Briks etc., and it was edging toward paint-stripping. Not sure whether that was compatibility issues (in the '90s) but Tom Evans' stuff is known to be very revealing but not necessarily comforting. With valves, and assuming cart. compatibility, it could work, I s'pose

Thanks Mike.
I was already worried that the DIY DCB1 (a Pass B1 derivative) would be like listening to the act of stripping paint off whatever, but the only things it has been stripping in my system are the veils that hid the smallest details in the music. As I write this I am listening to the best rendition I have ever heard of "In My Life" by an aging Johnny Cash. It is simply asounding how much detail I can hear thorugh my current preamp. I experienced the same with extremely familiar The Beatles tracks. It doesn't remove my music pleasure but adds to it. I even enjoyed "Sexy Sadie" where the guitars always tended to sound too metallic in my system.

If I go with the Tom Evans "The Vibe", I will see if I can buy the Tom Evans "The Vibe" with a right to return it if it doesn't work in my system. That would make a lot of sense.

EDIT: This clarity also means that bad recordings, or recordings that are brightly lit, will tend to sound a little strained. But right now Leonard Cohen's "Songs from the Road" album sounds just like he sounded live in Aalborg, Denmark: detailed and rich.

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Originally Posted by Rosewind

Thnks Jazid!
I think that many of our choices are dictated by what the amp or source component does in our systems. For instance I am pretty sure that I will never ever have a McIntosh pre in my system again as did not like the sound signature of that C48. I suppose that this might have changed now that I have the EAR 516 with ESL 57s.

As straight wires go, I already have a straight wire without gain, I feel, in my DIY DCB1 ... so I know that kind of sound. I just hope that the "vibe" from the Tom Evans The Vibe will improve a great deal on the already good Diy DC B1 I have here. If I do go down that route.

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Well in my system the dcb1 was a forgettable bottleneck. Not in other folks systems I accept, but actually, in mine, the second worst pre I've owned since my teens (beaten by a nose by a Quad 34). Grey grey grey, it made everything dull. TEADs Vibe won't do that!

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Thanks Jazid.
Inexpliable things happen in different systems. The EAR 802 that I sold off to a German buyer raved about its qualities. In my system it had sounded a bit too even-handed. A Herron VTSP 2 that I listened to through a Line Magnetic 219a sounded dull and lifeless. Without it the LM 219a sounded massively better.

The DIY DCB1 sounds crisp, detailed and brings forth marvellous bass with my EAR 516 + ELS 57s in my small 9 square meter study. If the Vibe is better, it is really good. Thanks for the comment!

I would still like to hear from other Tom Evans The Vibe owners to hear what they used the preamp with and what they changed to if they did change to something else.

As above, B1 was truly the worst pre I tried and I had many. There is a problem with Pass products in recent years, they are quite far from sound level from his best works some 15-20 yrs ago. Very dull and boring, technically correct but no music.

As for the comments about units sounding different in different systems, the answer is quite simple - matching impedance. If people would think a bit more what they are trying to match, this would be more of an educated/informed and less of a trial/error game.

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Originally Posted by anubisgrau

As above, B1 was truly the worst pre I tried and I had many. There is a problem with Pass products in recent years, they are quite far from sound level from his best works some 15-20 yrs ago. Very dull and boring, technically correct but no music.

As for the comments about units sounding different in different systems, the answer is quite simple - matching impedance. If people would think a bit more what they are trying to match, this would be more of an educated/informed and less of a trial/error game.

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Never heard a B1 but had a Turbo DCB1 which certainly didn't lack in musical terms. No apparent technically correct over enjoyablility in my opinion but yes, matching a pre to a system is of greater importance than I realised.

Thanks both. I enjoy my DIY DCB1 immensely. No complaints there.

Yes, and Ollie got my Dcb1 and loved it too, pimped it up as well. Just goes to show. Gordan's impedance matching position doesn't add up here, important though it is in general terms. A BCB1 is a zero gain buffer, it should be utterly transparent and unaffected by any reasonable circuit on either side of it. That it manifestly isn't is my sole criticism, but where it does work, it works very well and many I trust attest to this. Gordan and I march out of step with the rest... That mysterious synergy, it's all magic smoke and solder to me!

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Buffers can be strange, once I owned Bent Audio TAP with Slagle AVCs inside, it was a decent preamp as long as you don't activate output buffers. A pure horror!

I've had several B1s and DCB1s (I think four or five altogether) and experience has been variable according to what they were partnering. At their best they can be good, if a bit behind the very best - though sound per pound when well executed and well matched is quite hard to beat.

I have heard both a Vibe and a Linear A driving Tannoys, and a Vibe on its own driving a KT88 push pull amp. The Vibe on its own is a superb thing and should be better than any of the Pass boxes under almost any circumstances - it was utterly superb regardless what it was driving. However I would suggest the Linear A however requires careful matching - it didn't set the Tannoys alight at all, I suspect due to its relatively high output impedance. It may be happier with less fussy speakers. Be cautious and try and get a listen with your speakers before spending money. (I'm glad I did).

As ever Tom is on the money. It was my Linear A and it wasn't a success (which was a PITA for me). But music from the Linear A into Avant-garde Trios is a thing of joy and surpassing beauty, and it made a good fist of it into my ANEs.

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I have a Groove SRX+ and over the years upgrading all the way from an ISO. Several times during this period I felt I could do better but during comparison it always embarrassed the competition (included an AR PH9). I have used TE phono stages with the Audio Innovations S500, Audio Note M3, Zanden 1200, Audio Design PreAmp and more recently the Almarro A318B(+).

I have considered the Vibe several times in the past but I now have an integrated amplifier so its not necessary!

Your avatar, Poul: I went to one Killing Joke concert in Copenhagen but did not really get on with the music at the concert. It had something to do with the sound quality and how loud it was, I'm sure. It was 35 years ago. I will find the albums and have another listen for sure.

The Groove+ SRX is another option that I consider.
I have thought about going the route of an integrated amp in my small study but I am so happy with my EAR 516 that it would have to be a seriously good integrated amp for me to do that. One that worked even better with the ESL 57s than the EAR 516 does.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jazid

The Vibe is as everyone says, silent and neutral, as close to a straight wire with gain as you'll get. If that's what you want then fill your boots, you won't get much better IMHO.

Downsides? Tom's sense of style is a little challenging to many, and the pots which are made much of feel a bit cheap although they are apparently mil. Spec and excellent. And the Vibe itself weight almost nothing so you can't use stiff or silly jumbo interconnects without them dictating where the pre it going to sit as they will just push it around.
Mine worked flawlessly FWIW. I sold on when an Arcadia arrived, as I like what that does in my system.

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had 3 vibes and agree with james on this . in fact i think james bought one of me if i recall but i might be wrong

Why did you sell the preamp on, Phil?

well it has 2 boxes , one is a psu and it takes up a bit of space . it has no remote which is a pain but i did enjoy it greatly !!!

Thanks Phil. We will see if I can swing it. Otherwise I will gladly stick with my DCB1. If I manage to do it, I will make sure to tell you if the price difference is really worth it.