I had a BP6 for years and it excelled at transparency, detail, and threw off a big, layered 3D soundstage especially for a solid state preamp — a true “straight wire with gain” product. If I was you in Europe and looking for a bit more liquidity without sacrificing detail I’d look for a neutral tube preamp from Audio Reaearch or maybe Octave, but I think you should wait until you can up your budget a bit or as @ghdprentice mentioned you may end up with a more sideways move. I’d target something like at least a used ARC LS27, Ref 3, or if possible a Ref 5SE as any would likely be a substantial upgrade. Linear Tube Audio would also very much be worth a look as I understand they do sell in Europe, but they don’t offer a fully balanced preamp — only balanced inputs on their top model. Hope this helps, and best of luck.
Upgrading pre amp advice.
I am thinking about upgrading my pre amp (Bryston BP 25) for a pre amp which is also neutral but more musical/fluid and even more reveaIing. Also I want more 'depth' and better placing of instruments and voices. It's always hard to describe in words ; )
At the moment I have a dual mono (dual power supply) Nilai power amp, a Metrum Onyx ladder/NOS Dac (with the latest DAC3 modules) fed by an Auralic G1 streamer (upgraded with Hoerwege PSU) using semi open baffle Qualio IQ speakers.
Budget would be around 2000 Euros / 2350 US dollars.
When possible xlr (balanced) in and outputs.
I am listening to very different styles of music (Classical music, Rock, Jazz, Blues, World Music, etcetera)
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You might consider a PS Audio Stellar Gold preamp. A little outside your budget new, but they often have factory refurbished units that would fall into your price range. I have one, and imaging and Soundstage is great. And those are my hot buttons. Very clean and neutral sound. Has XLR output and input. |
@vhond - I recommend the Linear Tube Audio Microzotl preamp. I see there are used ones that you could pick up for $3500 - $4K. |
@vhond I have the Benchmark LA4 preamp and can’t fault it. It is brilliant for what it is. I bought an Audio Research Ref 6SE preamp a couple of months ago to see what the hype was all about. The ARC thoroughly impressed me. It brought everything to the table which I thought the Benchmark LA4 “lacked”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m keeping the LA4 for a second system but the ARC is now in my reference system and I can’t see any reason to replace it, ever. To really appreciate what it brings to the table you have to pair it with amps and speakers that are on par. |
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