Good pre-amp. I looked at that when I was looking for an active pre, along with the Rotel Michi, Parasound JC2BP and Benchmark LA4.

Ruled it out on looks in the end, same with the Michi and the Benchmark. Probably would have got the Parasound but then had a punt on the Sony which ended up surprising me - and saving me about three grand!

For me it's got to look old school.

We have very different approaches to digital sources. I don't go with spending large amounts of money there, I just don't hear any benefit, or see that there can be any when I look at the measurements either. Yes I did drop two grand on the CD transport but that was just bought for the looks as well. If there'd been anything cheaper that looked as good and wasn't slot loading I'd have gone for that instead.