CJ Premier 10 - still competitive?

Initial Impressions:

Conrad Johnson Premier 10 - great midrange reproduction, lifelike presentation, shines on piano, vocals. A little rolled-off at the extremes and a little grainy compared to the ML.

Mark Levinson No. 26 - Excellent top end resolution, cymbals, claps soundvery realistic and well defined, better low end resolution with more dynamics/impact and free of grain midrange.

As-of-today - The ML looks like a keeper

Do you (all) agree with the above observations based in your experience?

Fernando

Thanks all for you comments. The Premier 10 was delivered to my home last night to try it for a whole week. It sounds very good (just 1 hour listening..) with all the virtues of a tube preamp (lush, musical, timbre) and better bass definition than I expected.

I would definitly try to move to an 17 or above later, I will post you my findings and how it compares to the ML No. 26. I need to decide next Friday...

Fernando

Further observations:

I am willing to like the Premier10, to my ears it is a very musical design, this unit is in almost 10/10 condition and midrange bloom is fantastic, but I am missing the extreme frequency resolution, speed and impact of the ML 26.

During the first days of trial, I thought I was used to the ML presentation, so I really tried to wash-out all previous misconceptions of the former preamp and really tried to be open minded about the sonic signature of the Premier10.

The Premier10 is not a bad preamp, it cost 50% of the street price of the ML 26 and is pretty close in many aereas and even better in some others, but as-of-today I think I will keep the ML 26 and wait for a larger CJ preamp opportunity someday in the future.

I will give the Premier10 this last 2 days (weekend) just to confirm the above conclusion.

Fernando

Final Decision: I am keeping the ML26 and wait to get a Premier 17 or a 16 later on. The Premier 10 is a great preamp but it did not bring any substantial sonic improvements over my current preamp.

Thanks all for your feedback, it was very valuable for me.

Fernando