Recommendations for a tubed preamp

Conrad Johnson or Audio Research. Sound and resale value . I own a CJ Premier 17ls not regrets all smiles .If I want to up grade I can sell it and basically get the price I paid for it .

@gabriel123 

See if I can whip this off before the World Series game. :)

 I first took out the Shuguang Black Treasure, Mullard black based 5AR4 and Sylvania 6SL7 tubed Coincident 300B out and put in the Coda S5.5 in this system:

Antipodes K50>T+A DAC 200>Nordost Tyr2 XLR>Backert Labs Rhumba Extreme 1.3 (with Rhythm caps)>Inakustik Air 2404 RCA's > amp > Fidelium Speaker cables>Horning Eurfrodites. Power cords are a mix of Shunyata Alpha V2, Sigma V2, Zavfino Silver Dart, and Audioquest Hurricane to the amp. Shunayata Hydra Sigma power conditioner.

I listened to DSD 512 tracks of Miles Davis All Blues, Patricia Barber Ode to Billie Joe, The Moon, Rickie Lee Jones Chuck E's in Love, Holly Cole I Can See Clearly Now, Steven Wilson Luminol for some fast heavy rock, and a Qobuz high res track of Agnes Obel The Curse. 

AMP 1: mids and treble softer, yet no less more detailed, just more polished overall. Bass more even but a little less impact. Soundstage seemed a little larger, with some of the instruments more precise in space. 

AMP 2: Bass more robust, not more defined or deeper but bigger sounding. Mids have a little more edge, highs like cymbals seem to emphasize different frequencies- No better or worse as far as resolution, just different- hard to put words to it in a 30 min comparison. 

If you read the comparison above between the solid state amp and the 300B above you might come to the wrong conclusion. I guarantee if someone was blindfolded and told to pick the 300B tube amp they would choose AMP 1- that was the Coda. Crazy. Makes the Coincident 300B look like a bargain, doesn't it. 

Out the Backert and in the Prima Luna EVO 400 (PL). First though, the PL was previously "upgraded" with Amperex f33 brown base rectifiers, a set of old Telefunken's, and 2 sets of Tesla 12AU7's. This pre amp with these tubes sounds MUCH better than it did with stock tubes.

I have been using the 2 centre yellow lettered Tesla's with rhodium pins from the PL in the Backert Labs pre, which sounded right in between the Telefunken's and the stock Gold Lions- perfect for my ears. 

There is nothing wrong with the Prima Luna, it sounds good. But the Backert takes everything to a higher level. I already knew it was the better pre amp, and everyone who has heard the Backert would have guessed this, but still it is nice to confirm. 

The Rhumba Extreme yields more separation between instruments, resolution is better, but it is not brighter, rather smoother and more liquid. Voices are less sibilant, and the proverbial veil or haze is removed -one might mistake this for more "air", I hear it as a distortion. It is more dynamic, which if one simply weighed the 2 preamps they might mistake the 50+lb Prima Luna to be the winner here- but a patented more modern technology is employed in the Backert in regards to the power supply. Proof is in the pudding- there is more impact with the Backert. 

More simply the Backert Extreme brings one closer to the real thing, at least to my ears, which I believe is the goal of any audiophile. This is also what I heard when I first put it in this system with the Coincident 300B. 

But if one can't cough up the extra cash I don't see any issue with someone snapping up a Prima Luna EVO 400 and enjoying that for a few years until they upgrade, this is basically what I did. Maybe there are so many for sale because people did not try better tubes in it? It does bring it to a different level. 

Just thinking out loud as to how much I will need to spend to better this upgraded Rhumba Extreme  But no hurry. 

Been listening to the Backert hooked to the Coda for a few hours this morning. Yes, matches very well. I think I will listen all day with it, and then it is going to have to go back into the office system for tomorrow.

I can’t believe anybody would not enjoy this pairing. Gobs of natural detail, definitely more clean and transparent than the Coincident 300B. There is more presence, sounds more live, certain instruments jump out at you from space. Sublime. Kinda wish I didn’t bring Coda upstairs! Makes me want to upgrade the 300B tubes to Takatsuki’s. I can also see some of thinking this sound would be too bright for their liking. Easy fix- take out the Tesla ECC82’s and put in the Gold Lions. Or not use the rhodium Furutech GTX outlet and install a Shunyata or gold Furutech outlet instead. 

Downsides: with my 98db/m efficient Horning’s I do hear a little pop when turning the Coda on, there is a little hiss if you put your ear within 1 foot of the tweeter, and a little more hiss in some original recordings can be noticed (Weary Blues-Duke Ellington).  Also, the volume on the Backert is on the lower end, it is not in the optimal 11 to 1 o’clock range, more like 9 o’clock, even with RCA’s to the Coda. I suppose instead of XLR’s from the DAC to the Backert if I used RCA’s there should be at least 3db less output? Would this Rhumba sound even better? I should call Andy and ask him. 

@mclinnguy thanks a lot!

How about the Italian Pathos InControl MKII. Lovely pre-amp, tubed but not overly warm. Very good looking as well !!