I'm glad Jerry spoke up about the tubes. I have an L-2 and have never had a tube failure. The Audible preamps allow you to readily hear the differences in tubes but I too have never heard of $300 tubes for this preamp.
I have owned an AI preamp for a number of years(M3A and L-1) and have never had tube problems with any of them. In fact, I have a pair of 10 year old Sovtek's I pulled from a used M3a with about 3000 hours on them that sound wonderful. I have bought from AI, Upscale Audio and others and the tubes run about $70 for the pair in most cases. Exotic tubes are not required for this preamp to sound good.
Look at the AI web site for recommendations on tubes.
For a comparison, I have never heard the Cary pre. However, I did read a couple of reviews that seem to indicate it was not necessarily neutral which the L-2 is. If neutral is not what you're after, stay away from the L-2.
I have owned an AI preamp for a number of years(M3A and L-1) and have never had tube problems with any of them. In fact, I have a pair of 10 year old Sovtek's I pulled from a used M3a with about 3000 hours on them that sound wonderful. I have bought from AI, Upscale Audio and others and the tubes run about $70 for the pair in most cases. Exotic tubes are not required for this preamp to sound good.
Look at the AI web site for recommendations on tubes.
For a comparison, I have never heard the Cary pre. However, I did read a couple of reviews that seem to indicate it was not necessarily neutral which the L-2 is. If neutral is not what you're after, stay away from the L-2.