Don Sach's pre amp

Its actually a line stage.  Don also offers a phono stage but that is separate, not as an integrated preamplifier.

I've owned one of his custom SP-14s for several months and continue to be delighted.  It is absolutely quiet, offers great dynamics and huge soundstage, and most importantly to me accurate tonalities.  In addition, Don will customize any order in terms of parts quality, features, and output load to suit the customer.  All this at a very reasonable cost.

Yes, it competes with much more expensive competition.

soix and kalali, have you read the description on Don's site?

http://www.dsachsconsulting.com/custom%20line%20stage.html

Also I assume the Model 1 was an earlier version no longer available.  I got my Model 2 about 10 months ago and the 1 was never mentioned when placing my order.

I read one review of the VTA-SP-14 (Audio Asylum) but never heard one.  I expect it is a great deal for the money, but not up to the level of Don's.

kalail, I suspect Don is too busy to have time for much internet posting.  I think it is a one-man operation, other than building the cases.  So I'll share what I believe to be the development.

First off he has a long-standing reputation for restoring and upgrading classic tube gear such as HK Citation, McIntosh, Marantz, etc.  Somehow he had the opportunity to examine the circuit for the VTA-SP14 and was impressed by the potential.  But he felt it could be improved by selective parts upgrades.  So he ordered the board and built one to test.  Being satisfied with the initial results he then refined that and began offering his own version, with the blessing of VTA.  After all, they reference Don's version on their own site.

Since then it has been word-of-mouth promotion.  That's how I learned about it and I couldn't be more pleased with my DS2 SP-14.