Has anyone heard the Ref 3?

I own a Ref 3 and IMO it is simply the best preamp I have ever owned. Prior to that I owned a Ref 2 MK ll which I thought also to be excellent but when put up against the Ref 3 it sounded broken.

Those who pontificate about preamps rate the Ref3 as one of the top 3 in the market today--the other two being VTL 7.5 and the CJ ACT 2. Bear in mind that ARC recently did a rolling line change on the Ref 3 by adding 4 bypass caps and switching from the 6L6 tube back to a 6550C

Here is a look at the Ref 3 in my room

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1049587927&read&3&4&

http://homepage.mac.com/imacdoyou86/PhotoAlbum52.html

Actually I have heard them. I had the Lamm L2 in my system and even though I own Lamm L 2.1's and figured that there would be an obvious synergy the preamp was cold, dark and sterile. The Ref 3 eclipsed it by miles.

One of my closest friends owns the Callisto in an all Aesthetix system with dual power supplies and a Sirius 3 TT. It is excellent but he told me that he prefers my Ref 3 better.

I briefly heard the Kondo and felt it to be only just OK.

As far as posting absolutes, those comments came not from me but rather from an owner of an extremely high end manufacturer who has had opportunity to listen to every SOTA preamp out there.

I will reiterate, that until you hear the Ref 3, you haven't done your system justice. I must admit that I was dying to own the L2 and it couldn't come close to the Ref3 in my system. Bear in mind it is all about flavors. I prefer the sonic signature of the Ref3. I also owned a Ref 2 Mk ll as well and thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

Gmorris

You have one hell of a good looking system

Like you I use the Walker SST and now the Extreme SST and amazed at the sonic change in my system. Sorry to be off topic.

Well Ethan we should try the demo again because I would still have to disagree. I am uncertain what you mean that the Ref 3 "has a slight agenda"

Ethann

I might ask you--how do you know it wasn't your L2 that was colored and the Ref 3 wasn't?

we should have another a/b test then to give it a second chance.

You attributed the lack of performance that day to the type of cabling used?

Looking forward to it.

You will find that much to your amazement the sound will muddy down for the next 100 hours or so. Typically ARC gear sounds terrific out of the box and then needs a break in.

I owned a Ref 2 Mk ll and now the Ref 3 and IMO the Ref 3 is the finest preamp that I have ever owned

Agaffer

The initial tube they used was also very decent. The 6550C merely adds a bit better bottom end

The bypass caps make for a slightly better upper end. It is worth doing.