Bryston BP26 with Pass Labs

"02-17-15: Soix
I don't see how Bryston and Pass preamps are polar opposites. They're both solid state designs that seem to strive for neutrality."

I think I see your point. Its just a box with some knobs on it. I'm willing to bet that if you looked at a spec sheet, you could tell how these preamps sound without even listening to them.

It does sem like zd is confusing amps and preamps in this situation. If you hear a big difference between these 2 then at least one of them has a problem. Is the bryston known to be a noisy preamp? I've never heard that.

"02-17-15: Abrew19
It does sem like zd is confusing amps and preamps in this situation."

When you guys get some more experience, you'll find that barring a big mismatch between the amp and speaker, the preamp will contribute much more to a systems sound than the amp. By far. There's no easier way to wreck a system, than by using the wrong preamp.

"If you hear a big difference between these 2 then at least one of them has a problem. Is the bryston known to be a noisy preamp? I've never heard that."

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. Its just the opposite. You're far more likely to have a problem if you don't hear a big difference between the 2. This is some pretty basic stuff. Its the kind of nonsense you hear from people that work at Best Buy. This is exactly what happens when you get your listening experience from reading magazines.

"That was not my experience. My explanation is that the Pass amp masked any sonic differences between the Bryston and Pass preamps. When I used the Bryston 7B SST monoblocks, the sonic differences between the two preamps became obvious. The Pass preamp had a more traditional tube like sound than the tube preamp we had on hand. The BP26 was the more neutral of the three.
Bob_reynolds (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

Fair enough. Its just that in other posts, some of your comments and ideas are way out of the norm for the discussions on this web site.