which preamp

Zd542,

I agree about listening to a preamp before buying it. But it is not just a matter of tube products and risk. If you don't roll the right tubes in the preamp you may think you have a dud where you may actually have a jewel -- if you only knew.

I have the Audio Horizons preamp -- fully loaded. I am very happy with it. But you need to roll the right tubes. I am now using a NAD M51 DAC but I have a PS Audio DS DAC arriving next week.

Smokenjo,

I have an Atma-Sphere S-30. My DS DAC arrives tomorrow.

Zd542,

You're right about stock tubes, alas.

Smokenjo,

I have the TP 2.3 fully loaded. I use Siemens Cca in 1 and 3 and Siemens E188CC in 2 and 4. The latter is the secret to this preamp. I'll let you know how the DS sounds in a couple of days. Of course, this is right out of the box. It will take about 500 hours to break in. I have the new 1.2.1 firmware ready on my SD card.

Nglazer,

I'm hoping to have the same reaction as you.

Nglazer and Smokenjo,

I just took the NAD M51 out and put the DS DAC into the system. Powered up with the old firmware. Nothing spectacular right out of the box -- slightly ahead of the NAD, perhaps. Then I put the new 1.2.1 firmware to work. Powered up again. The NAD M51 is a great DAC -- a wonderful bargain at its price point -- but it is now retired. This DS is a whole different DAC with the latest firmware -- right out of the box. Already a superb DAC. I can't wait till we get 500 hours on it.

Smokenjo,

The TP 2.3 fully loaded was a huge improvement in my system even before the DS DAC arrived. I cannot imagine my system without it.

Regarding sound stage, it is a wide and deep 3D stage with great imagining. But you must know that sound stand depends on more than the preamp (rolled with the best tubes) and DAC. Your speaker and power amp and cables and accessories including tweaks can have a huge impact here, as well. I have a zillion things in my system that contribute to sound stage.

Nglazer,

I am feeding it organic grain-fed beef. That's why the harmonics are superior.

Actually, I am using my own DIY cables in series with Shunyata.

Nglazer,

Make that organic grain-fed grass. My cabling is great, thanks.

Zd542,

Sometimes the Shunyata works best downstream and sometimes my DIY Furutech works best downstream. You need to reverse them to see which configuration sounds best.

The Furutech wire contains no silver. I am not aware if the Shunyatas contain silver. I think what makes this series work is that both cables are made from OCC copper that has been cryogenically treated. Why they create such an amazing sound together is a mystery to me. The Shunyatas sounded great before I decided to experiment with series cabling here. But since trying the series idea it is clear the harmonics of the Shunyatas fall short in my system. This may be a system dependent thing. As I mentioned earlier, my DIY cables do not work at all in series with my Elrods.

I have just introduced the PS Audio DS DAC into my system this week. I will be going back, cable by cable, to verify if the series still works as well as it did with my NAD M51 or if I need to make any changes.