Many higher end preamps are dated and ugly, why is this?


Conrad Johnson, BAT, VTL are all very good preamplifiers, they are dated and just ugly.  Audio research is a prettier amplifier but it's not very well regarded due to it sounding more like a solid state, ie. Not really a tube preamp despite all those internal lightbulbs.

Cheaper preamps can be more pretty. Schitt makes a pretty preamp for about $1000. People like pretty.

D'Agostino by many is viewed as very attractive but kind of weird. 

jumia

Seems like you want to impress friends rather than have good sq. Who cares what a preamp looks like, it’s the sound that counts. IMO, what you called high end preamps are just ok in my book, and some of the preamps you stated as ugly or weird are very good sounding.

 

II'm rather fond of my Musical Fidelity Ms8 preamp and even the wife gave it compliments when unboxing saying it's beautiful !

I think it is really a matter of personal taste. I don’t think the Schiit looks all that great.

I do like the look of my Luxman CL-35 III and Luxman CL-38uC preamps, as an added bonus they also have great sound

Preamp aesthetics may or may not have any bearing on it's sound quality. 

I've stated this before and will repeat it here again.."good preamplifiers are few & far between".

Many are flawed in different areas and it is difficult to execute everything to make a great sounding preamp.