Effective recommendations to add warmth & smoothness while keeping bass control
What are the most effective ways to add warmth or smoothness to the system while keeping bass punch and control? You could rank them as well and please provide examples?
1) Hybrid SS with tube buffer
2) Hybrid tube preamp stage with SS output stage
3) Tube preamp + SS amp
4) Tube amp
5) Class A SS amp with zero/low feedback
6) High bias Class A/AB with zero/low feedback
@audphile1 How is your impression about CJ ET3? Not SE model. Do you agree with what the reviewers say about it? I spot a deal but, according to the reviewers, it is an opposite side of sound I am after... Thx.
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Got it, @oddiofyl. Thanks. |
Given what you’re looking for I’d be concerned the CJ may take away a little too much of the air/upper treble and would reiterate my recommendation above for the Backert Rhumba 1.3. Another benefit I didn’t mention before is I believe you may have the option to have them upgrade it to the Extreme version in the future to bring it to a much higher level if desired. Just my $0.02 FWIW. |
Thank you, @soix. I didn’t forget or ignore these recommendations—I just took some time to explore the CJ option that first popped up in the discussion chain. I enjoyed watching Steve’s narratives on the Rhumba 1.3, especially the tube-tube comparison versus the tube–Pass XA25 solid-state pairing. According to him, the Rhumba 1.3 sits between clean/transparent and the classic, very warm tube sound. It seems like a sound signature the CJ ET3SE might also share. There’s also the PrimaLuna ProLogue Three/Premium tube preamp, another well-regarded alternative in a similar price range. And lastly, the Freya+. These four options are currently on my radar. It’s going to be a tough choice since I don’t have any local shops to audition them. |
