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Recommendations for a tubed preamp

I'm looking for a tube preamp that would pair well with my Lampizator Big 7 DAC and Coda S5.5 amp. My speakers are Joseph Audio Pulsars.

I've been considering the LTA MicroZOTL, but unfortunately it's only available in the U.S., and I'm based in Europe. My second option was the Qualiton C200, but there are almost no reviews online, and I’m worried it might be hard to resell later on.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated — thanks!

gabriel123
skids's avatar
skids
120 posts
 

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisbfhhb-audio-research-reference-5se-tube?creative=&gad_campaignid=17191022312&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI34ObkvW4kAMVi40iBR36QAkEEAQYAiABEgLV2vD_BwE&keyword=

njcardave's avatar
njcardave
73 posts
 

Backert Labs. 

kennymacc
723 posts
 

VTL!!!

sworksone
35 posts
 

I’ve used both a Trafomatic Reference Line One and Trafomatic Lara with an S5.5 and No.8 Coda with amazing results.  Both preamps are outside of your price range unless you can find a used Ref Line One.  They do however have a Head2 which is a dual purpose headphone amp / preamp in or near your price range.  I haven’t heard it personally but being from Trafomatic will be very high SQ - with the downside of it not having a remote that I’m aware of.  That being said the Aric preamps especially the Motherlode XL (while a bit outside your price range) from what I’ve read / watched are a great match with Coda amps.  Check out the Jay’s Iyagi review on YouTube.   

soix
11,233 posts
 

Please be aware the OP is in Europe so brands like LTA, Backert, etc. that aren’t available in Europe aren’t applicable here. 

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