Regarding the Emotiva comments, I have had extensive experience with Emotiva equipment. I have not heard the new gen 3 amp, as it is a completely different beast using a switching power supply, but their previous generation amps have been excellent. However, I have found their dac/pre equipment to sound very closed-in and dull/subdued. This may be described as gutless or soul sucking, so I can generally agree with Eric’s comments. There are definitely better dac/pre equipment to select, though the Emotiva stuff is cheap.
@wcc10 - which specific Marantz player do you have? I have heard the oppo 105 (which is a lot more money). Overall, the oppo is excellent for the money for everything it delivers (video, audio, processing, features, etc.). There are probably better options if you are shopping only for a dac. I highly suspect that the Marantz that you have is going to sound a lot warmer/richer than the oppo 103/105. The 105 is great, but may sound a little sterile compared to the Marantz stuff. The 103 is not going to sound as good as the 105, of course. |
You have the higher end Marantz player. Excellent power supply and audio stages, in my opinion. I actually think the Emotiva pre is your weak link at this point. They definitely suffer in the "separation of instruments" quality. I don't believe you are hearing the true resolution of the Marantz. I don't know what your budget is. Maybe a Wyred4Sound mpre? Or maybe look for a used Adcom GFP-750 on eBay. A tube preamp may or may not be what you are looking for. It depends on the model and type of tube. They can be slow sounding and may not give you the resolution for "separation of instruments" that you are looking for. I would look for a solid state fully discrete preamp (no op amps). Fully balanced is better as well. |
This one is in Canada, but I have had excellent results with the Krell KAV-280p:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Krell-KAV-280p-Preamplifier-/281972783058?hash=item41a6e337d2:g:bWUAAOSwhDdXDskQ
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The typical price for the 280p has generally been $1200-1500. You can sometimes get the proper Krell remote on eBay for under $100. My cousin may have an extra remote that he might sell. I could ask him, although he might decide to buy that 280p off eBay as he is looking for a backup preamp. He uses the 280p. We both originally used the Krell HTS 7.1. He used the HTS as a preamp only and it blew away the Emotiva dac/pre stuff. The 280p was definitely an improvement over the HTS 7.1 (which was soft in comparison).
Be aware that you might pay extra in import duties since it is shipping from Canada.
i don't have any experience with bel canto. |
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wcc - You'll have to keep your eyes open, like you said. I don't see any other items in the price range that I could recommend, other than those two. There is a Rotel RC-1570 up for sale, but I don't know what that is going to sound like. Based on a brief look, it seems that Rotel has a similar approach to Emotiva, but they use higher quality components (such as capacitors, op amps, etc.). Hence, the price is somewhat higher as well. You can see the use of polystyrene caps in the Rotel preamp on the op amp feedback circuits (much better than the metallized caps in the Emotiva). The Rotel also has much better local power filtering on the op amps (you can see the higher number of electrolytics mounted next to the op amps) The Rotel may have better resolution than the XSP, or it may be somewhat equal). It might just be a sideways move, I cannot tell. The XSP does have one discrete circuit, but this preamp is just littered with tons of op amps all over the place. Emotiva likes to use the OPA2134 op amp, and this is the primary reason that the Emotiva dac/pre do not have the higher resolution we want. There are some Brystons for sale, but I have had lackluster results from Bryston. Either the Brystons are too bright with no body and decay, or the sound is too slow/subdued. It is all a power supply issue I believe. There is a Krell KAV-250p that may be okay, but it is not going to have the resolution of the newer KAV-280p. |
My cousin had an older Classe preamp like that. I can't remember the actual model number (something like CP-35, 45, or something). It was very slow and warm compared to Krell/Bryston stuff. More like a lush warm tube type sound. I don't know about the CP-50/65. I have heard the newer Classe stuff is a lot different (like CP-700 / CP-800). |
wow, we are going off on a tangent! lol. I would like to say that I am totally NOT a tube preamp expert. That being said, in the choices that naimfan has suggested, I would probably lean towards the AR LS-2 because of it's balanced outputs (though it is not fully balanced/differential internally). The newer CJ PV14L looks to have a much better power supply and circuit layout of the three different preamps. That being said, if I was in the market for a tube preamp, I would really look at the Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) stuff, as it has fully balanced/differential circuits (like the Krell KAV-280p and every other preamp I have suggested). There's a BAT VK-3i for $999. But I would probably be trying to push my budget to the BAT VK-31se for $1800. It has a much beefier power supply section, which translates into stronger bass/midbass punch. It also has both a remote and a phono stage (you mentioned an interest in a turntable). I would then look at trying different tubes to try to get the most resolution I could out of it. Personally, I would probably still go after the Krell KAV-280p from Canada and deal with the remote problem. It is entirely possible that it just needs a new battery. You had an interest in the AR LS-2, which is full manual control without any sort of remote, so it may not be a big deal. My cousin has a Jolida tube CD player that we have modded the heck out of (black gate capacitors, upgraded diodes, internal silver wiring, Furutech RCA connectors, Electro-Harmonix tubes). It does sound very nice, but it does not quite have the resolution of the Oppo 105 (which has an edge on excitement and snap). In my opinion, the Oppo 105 is lacking in resolution with what I am currently used to. We have found that the Electro-Harmonix tube has very good resolution. Some others have mentioned the Genelex tube being very good as well. There are many people who love tube based stuff. It is definitely a personal preference. If you have listened to tube preamps and love them, by all means go after what you love! I didn't originally put forth the idea of the STP-SE because of the price and I was thinking of your inherent budget. However, the STP-SE has a lot of great point. Fully differential, massive power supply. It looks fully discrete as well (but I can't completely confirm). The STP-SE appears to have a very fast response (high resolution), but also is able to keep a lot of "tone" characteristics. I would probably say I would highly consider this particular preamp. Between the Krell KAV-280p and this Wyred4Sound STP-SE, I'm not sure which one of these would actually be better. I'm definitely going to be reading up more on this STP-ES preamp, just out of curiousity. |
Sorry, one more topic. My cousin DOES NOT have any extra 280p remotes. The HTS remotes will not work. The Ebay seller is saying that the Krell RC codes are available for programmable remotes. I would ask him -specifically- where to find these. If the battery replacement does not work, you could be out of a remote for a long time if the RC codes are not actually available. I searched and could not really find anything. |
Heh, just read your posts. I did some additional research on the STP-SE. It’s amazing that people will have many opinions on "what is the best preamp". Most people don’t understand that system synergy is critical and a particular preamp may shine in one system and sound poor in another. Repeated comments on the STP-SE say that it is very transparent and act much like a passive pre. However, it also has the beefy power supply and gain circuit that is able to "push" difficult bass/midbass waveforms into the amp. This means you have a highly transparent and fast/dynamic preamp. The key word here is "transparent". The Krell, on the other hand, has 2 Class A circuits (input and output) that the audio signal will travel through. The Class A circuit will definitely color the sound somewhat, but the Krell implementation is still very fast and dynamic. Your Marantz is going to have a warm/rich sound. The Emotiva Gen 3 uses the XPR amp board which is on the smooth/refined side of sonic signature (though I don’t know how it will sound with the Gen 3 switching power supply). But it’s nowhere near the smooth/slow/lush of a tube amp. (still definitely strong solid state). The STP-SE will probably reveal the full resolution of your Marantz. On the other hand, the Krell will have a little color to the sound (could be translated into fully midrange body and bass/midbass). Since the Marantz warmth may be similar to a Class A circuit, it may be pushing too many Class A steps in the audio path for my own personal preference. However, I believe the Krell is going to be significantly better than the Emotiva in resolution, dynamics, excitement and clarity anyways. I guess it depends on what you want, and it may be impossible to know without trying. Based on what I have read, I would say that the STP-SE definitely has an edge over the Krell on speed and transparency. But like you said, it is $900 more. Wyred 4 Sound does have a 14-day trial program. The end-cost is shipping plus 5% ($100 in the STP-SE) if you return it without purchasing. |
I just read that you sometimes feel fatigued after listening to your Emotivas. I don't want to derail this topic (which is on dac/pre), but in my experience, I have found that an improvement in power cords, interconnects, speaker wire, and definitely fuses will help reduce listening fatigue. Depending on what you get, they all work towards removing the glare and mid/high-frequency harshness. These items can also help improve the resolution from your system(as some interconnects are not good enough to reveal the true resolution of the source). |
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Well, you’ll be happy to know that I think the XPA Gen 3 does not use any fuses. It looks like it uses a circuit breaker instead. I would advise you to wait until you got a new preamp before trying fuses (don’t spend any effort on the XSP). I have tested several different fuses and think that the Isoclean fuse is actually the best all around. It’s actually the cheapest, and you can get it for $32 on ebay direct from China (I’ve purchased many Isoclean from the ebay seller hongkong_basket). I have not tried the very expensive Audio Magic fuses. I’ve been participating in another thread and this guy went from the XSP-1 to a Parasound JC2 (way above your budget), and had significant improvements: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/help-choose-best-amp-preamp-combo |
Hey 2channel - the older Oppo players were not actually good transports. The digital output on those were really bright/harsh. If you wanted to get into a stand-alone DAC, I would highly suggest a better player. Even a really cheap $100 Sony Bluray player has better digital outputs than the old Oppo. The new Oppo (103/105) have good digital outputs. You're probably better off getting an Oppo 95 or that Marantz SA 8003. I think the Marantz is going to sound better. Be aware that you're paying for 12 audio circuits on the Oppo 95, where there are only 2 audio circuits on the Marantz SA 8003. The Marantz has fully discrete audio output buffer circuits, where the Oppo uses SMD dual-channel op amps. |
Yes, Oppo 95 is better than Oppo 103. The 103 is just a new version of the 93. If you are not buying a separate DAC, the 103 is not going to do it for you. It's a great transport with somewhat decent audio (not great). There are a couple Marantz SA8005 units here on Audiogon for $800 each. I would chase after those first before trying Oppo. I don't have any experience with the EVS mods. EVS replaces the I/V and buffer op amps with a single FET, which may not have enough gain/muscle to drive a good waveform. Don't know. I researched EVS before and I would be worried about the output gain issue. The single FET idea has good points and bad points. |
Just read over your original post. Please be aware that the Marantz is not a true multi-format player. It will only play CD/SACD discs. You can play limited types of audio files from a USB stick (such as WMA, MP3, WAV, AAC). It will NOT play DSD or FLAC or DVD-A. If you really want DVD-A, you'll need a bluray player. If you use a computer to play files and connect using USB, you can play more types. |
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@wcc10 - what preamp did you try? Did you end up getting that Krell? Or was it something else? |
