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)

 

vhond

I meant to say just order without balanced input transformers ,$600 less $$.

@vhond : I either use a home made passive or my topping PRE90. I find the PRE90 very neutral as indicated in the reviews. It adds or takes away nothing to the sound. Easier to use than the passive pre-amp as it has a remote. I bought it because it had superb reviews. Read the Stereophile review is the one that sold it to me. Plus the 140db noise floor from ASR. My speakers are Dynaudio EMIT30’s or ATC SCM7’s with a sub. Depending on the mood. I like the small point source sound from the SCM’s very analytical as they are Studio Calibration Monitors. :)

As an aside I have Qutest, P90SE and a uDAC. I can use all three into my PRE90 for a choice. I’ve gone back to Moode Audio on a Pi5 for the moment. I like the extremely detailed rich sounding and not bright and jingly punch it gives to the sound.

Hope this helps.

 

 

Work on tweaking your speaker setup before doing anything else.  It's free, and as other posters have said, save up for something that will actually be an improvement over your Bryston (which is already good gear).

Buy a great preamp, it's the heart of your system...   It's the one piece I have historically spent more than I budgeted for every time.  .   

A great pre can really elevate your system, a not so great one can be the bottleneck of an otherwise excellent system.  

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Musical Fidelity Ms8pre  , I have it mated with an Jc5 Halo and also tried the Ayre K-5xe- mp and JC2 bypass . The MS8pre just ticked all my boxes and sounded phenomenal!