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

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.

Your price range, give or take a few bucks, might fetch you a nice used McIntosh C220 preamp. I own this preamp, and like it a lot. $80 worth of Mullard reissue 12AX7 tubes brought the sonics up a big notch, too. Check this site, and also reliable used McIntosh sellers, like Audio Classics (where I bought mine from Ryan - great customer service!). I have to think the C220 and the MC402 would be a good pairing.

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

I've a Vincent SA-T8 that I bought from a fellow audiogoner. This has been upgraded by upgrade company and I use NOS tubes that I got from the original owner. YMMV, but in my system pairing with a PMC AML-1 speaker and W4S Dac-2, vincent sa-t8 brings out the magic in my system. The preamp totally changed the tonal character in a subtle and obvious way. I don't think I can ever go back. They are fully balanced and comes with remote. I'm not sure whether a preamp change will solve your hissing problem though.

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

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.

What's the rest of your system? Do you already have a preamp? If you can run direct,it's probably better to run direct than to put a mediocre preamp in the system. Maybe something else needs upgrading, probably speakers. At entry level hifi, the speakers are more important than anything else, followed by power amp.