The cleanest sounding preamp to me is my Tortuga Audio LDR, total clarity and measures poorly according to ASR 😎
Preamps can color sound considerably. Surprising?
Had the pleasure of listening to 4 hi end preamplifiers this weekend. And each preamp sounded very nice. But they were different. Each preamplifier has different circuitry and within the frequency spectrum there was more vibrancy in some areas versus other areas. Amplifiers are the same way.
It takes a while to appreciate sound differences between preamplifiers. And then you got the issue of Breakin which further changes the color.
clearly designers are playing around with all the internal circuitry in a manner that hopefully will be appealing. Clearly, these units do not get out of the way when it comes to moving a signal through the box.
I think solid state is more susceptible to coloring versus tubes. Tubes color sound as well.
It's all about marketing different ways to color Music. This isn't necessarily bad but it's never really talked about this way.
Showing 5 responses by scm
@condosound.. "scm: Thanks re Tortuga LDR, I’ll try to listen to it sometime. But it needs external power, and so it is not truly passive. I have a 12 VDC battery-powered Dodd Audio preamp which is not passive, but it’s absolutely silent. Can you switch the Tortuga to battery power?" .I have mine hooked up with a battery supply and it made for a much ’blacker’ back ground. |
My Tortuga passive and has plenty of power, punch, clarity and detail. Width is nicely presented and depth too. I use a 1/2 meter Audience IC that goes to a Modwright phono stage from the Tortuga. I am using 1/2 meter Kimber KCAG IC`s from the Tortuga to my ATI 3002 amp. The ATI feeds a pair of Revel F52`s. I use a 1 meter pair of Zu IC`s into a Dayton Audio SA 1000 subwoofer amp which powers a Revel Ultima Sub 15 subwoofer. I have 3 other subs in the mix too. This is my recipe for a very satisfying, enjoyable sounding system. This works well and It will play as loud as you would ever want. Try a Tortuga passive, you might be pleasantly surprised by what you hear 👍
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@holmz ...The source output impedance is VERY low according to what I see listed for my ModWright 9.0X phono stage. Couldn`t find anything showing exactly what it is. The amp`s input impedance is 28K ohms |