The Truth About Preamps


I'm wondering now that we're in the digital age with so many cd players having variable outs, what does a high quality preamp do for a system? I've heard so many different stories on either you get more detail straight in or that you get more bloom with a preamp. I would think that if you had a musical cd player such as a Cary running straight into a musical and smooth amp such as a Classe or Conrad-johnson you wouldn't need a preamp...all this given you have only cd as your source...I'm just wondering what you guys think and your experience running a cd player straight into an amp. I'm thinking of running a Theta Miles straight into a Classe CA-300
totalmlb

Showing 1 response by sgr

The top of the line Adcom is a very nice preamp is rated Class A by Stereophile and can be found used for less than $1000 or by it new for about $1500 it sounds great.

If you want to run with out a preamp, you would need to by a fairly expensive CD Player.

I would recommend the Levinson #39 or #390s. These units sound great without the preamp and are built to be played that way. You should be able to find a #39 for about $3000-$4000 on Audiogon or audition and buy an new #390s at a dealer and you'll still be way ahead.

The cool thing about these units is that if you want to add a preamp like the #380s or other high quality preamp as funds appear you can still do so and still have one of the best CD players out there in the #39 and #390s.
Another upside would be that if your preamp ever needs updating/service you could still use the #39 for both in your system and not be out of tunes.

Good listening,

Steven