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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
scm
316 posts
 

@holmz ...The source output impedance is VERY low according to what I see listed for my ModWright 9.0X phono stage. Couldn`t find anything showing exactly what it is.

The amp`s input impedance is 28K ohms

mrdecibel
3,308 posts
 

Every amp I own, and have owned, is / has been rated to reach full power with less than 2 volts at the input. If you have a good 2 volts to work with, impedances are well matched, and the system caters to your desired volume level ( s ), when does the preamp’s additional voltage kick in? Most preamps in most systems are still used in attenuation mode, ime.

antigrunge2
1,583 posts
 

@mrdecibel 

agreed, the discussion now seems to focus on the likelihood of impedance mismatchesbetween DAC and power amp, methinks. In attenuation mode, all a pre does is add distortion if impedances are properly matched. We are finally getting somewhere on this topic…

akg_ca
2,479 posts
 

Not surprising in the least. They all have their own bespoke sonic signatures.

mofojo
2,424 posts
 

IMO all passably transparent preamps should have EQ of some sort. I tried the straight dac to amp and for some music it was pretty good…. But anything with a meaty midrange it was bright and kind of harsh. Very detailed though on an RME DAC. The dudes over at the science whatever site are all telling this is the way to go. I think there’s more to it than that personally.

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