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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
elliottbnewcombjr
7,869 posts
 

Yep,

Friday I bought a DVD/CD player for a friend at a rummage sale, $15..

Saturday a different friend brought his expensive CD player to compare with my Sony xa5400ES.

Both friends units directly to my Cayin Integrated Tube amp using it’s 6sn7s and 6sl7s for gain, KT88’s for power.

Both sounded very good.

Played my Sony, via McIntosh Tube preamp, bunch of 12...s, volume at 50 then off to the Cayin for remote volume via the 6’s. it sounded great. Just slighty preferred to the two others, but that is what I am used to and chose over others. Friend agreed it sounded darn good, no sense it was digital.

Next try my Sony direct to the Cayin. Without the mx110z, it sounded thin, not harsh or digital, just thin if you catch my description.

Next try friends fancy CD player via my mx110z: it sounded bloated, too much bass,

Taught me much unknown about my CD player and Preamp.

mx110z’s MM Phono stage always sounds better than any other phono stage I have compared it to.

Prior McIntosh SS C28 MM Phono sounded worse than any other phono I compared it to, so I sold it.

jumia OP
528 posts
 

Mcintosh should do a line stage

mrdecibel
3,308 posts
 

@jumia McIntosh preamps include line stages. I am sorry but, I do not get the question ? 😕

jumia OP
528 posts
 

Correction, they offer one solid state preamplifier with no phono stage , but no pure lion stage tube preamps

They always like to stuff things with a photo stage or headphone amplifier.

Not interested in solid state preamplifiers hey sixfrom McIntosh.  Have Mono blocks that are solid state I wish I could get them with tubes.  I think McIntosh is good for amplifiers but not much else. The processors they sell basically are marantz put into a Macintosh box.

 

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

@scm 

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

The most important here is the listening level, and whether the interconnects to the amp is short or not.

Much easier if the passive to amp is a stereo amp and short ICs, then a long length to mono blocks across the room.

 

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.

Actually an amp requiring 5V would be better and the preamp needs to use less attenuation. Basically the lower the amp gain, the better.

Or the closer the preamp runs towards 0dB attenuation, the better.

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