2. amps-preamps
  3. 179899-155632

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.

 

 

 

jumia
tablejockey
3,771 posts
 

EVERYTHING adds "color."

The only "authentic" sound is what the guys in the studio heard.

knotscott's avatar
knotscott
796 posts
 

The only "authentic" sound is what the guys in the studio heard.

Bingo....the true meaning of "Hi-fi" refers to the original sound as recorded.  Everything downstream of that is variation of some sort .... we just get to decide if it's a more pleasant variation or a less pleasant variation, and choose accordingly, but it remains a variation.  In that sense, the best systems simply reveal with as little coloration as possible,

drbond
395 posts
 

In my experience, a passive pre-amplifier does not color the sound (much) at all. All active pre-amplifiers, even running my same Ypsilon pre-amplifier in active mode (vs. passive mode) color the sound to a greater degree.

jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,589 posts
 

+1 tablejockey. Choose the one that compliments the other colors.

elliottbnewcombjr
5,111 posts
 

I use 'Prefer' rather than 'Better' regarding variations and my personal selections. When several friends agree with you, that gets close to 'better', but still ....

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