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CA Azur 840E preamp or Vincent SA-T8 for MC402 ?

Hello,
I am a bit new/naive in the audiophile world, and definitely need some advice and feedback on what can be done to improve the musicality of my equipment.
I bought a MC402 a few months ago, and am still trying to get the "wow" out of my equipment- So far i still think the treble is too on the 'hissing" side, and soundstage is not quite there. I tried a direct connection between the Oppo 95 and the MC402 : clarity is there, but still hissing a bit. I am thinking a good preamp may help; but which one?
The budget is around $2.5K max - Constraints are: as best musicality as can be obtained in that price range, fully balanced connections, remote control.
So far i found the CA 840E, and the Vincent SA-T8. Any recommendations?
Thanks
pbd974

Showing 4 responses by pbd974

pbd974 OP
4 posts
 
Hi there,

The main pieces are:

. Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand,
. McIntosh 402,
. Oppo BDP-95.

The current "pre-amp" is an Onkyo TX-SR875 that i am in the process of replacing.
So far I have tried connecting the Oppo directly to the MC420 (tried balanced and RCA), and also using the Onkyo as the preamp. I also used an Emotiva XPA-5 as the amp instead of the MC402 for testing purposes. The best results are the Oppo --> MC402, but there is still too much of 'ssss' to my taste.
I have changed interconnects also. Either the MC402 is not delivering, or i am missing a piece, which i am thinking (hoping) is the preamp. Or is it that the MC402 is supposed to be putting out this "ssss" sound ?

Any help/input is welcome, as i am a bit at a loss.

Thanks in advance.
pbd974 OP
4 posts
 
If no one has used the CA or Vincent, could anyone suggest a good preamp in the $2500 range for the mc402 ? At this point I am on to both tube and SS. I forgot to mention that HT bypass would be a plus.
thanks
pbd974 OP
4 posts
 
Thank you for your reply Radiohead99.
My hearing may be the culprit for the "ssss" sounds being too pronounced. I was hoping a tube preamp would mellow out the MC402 a bit, and the SA-T8 in on top of my list. Have you ever have replaced tubes since the upgrade ? If so was the full process fairly painless (from finding the tubes to the installing) ?
As the Vincent does not seem to have a HT bypass I am still on the lookout for potential others for a bit before making the final decision. It could be frustrating a bit though, as the choices seem to be ridiculously expensive in most cases.
Thanks
pbd974 OP
4 posts
 
I've never listened to tube preamps, but based on the searches I've run, and based on the replies so far it seems a tube preamp is the better approach. Even if I could listen to some of them in a demo room I think the difficulty would be that in the end it may still not be representative of the sound I would get within my system.
The way i described the "hissing" may not be accurate, but "dryness" does come to mind. I will continue researching in the tube section for a bit.
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