The main differences I heard in my setup between the Ayre K-5xe- mp and the Musical Fidelity Ms8pre was the size of the sound stage the Ayre was more confined but no less enjoyable but the Ms8pre threw a sound stage that extended itself beyond the speakers whilst maintaining instrument placement a solidity, it wa s also more refined with a better sense of timber and hormonic structure . It also excelled at low level listening.
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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Unity Gain Designs are extremely transparent and not producing an overbearing upper frequency in any way at all. A Valve Pre' will have quite noticeable tonality is compared to a Unity Gain. A AVC or TVC will also have a noticeable tonality when compared to a Unity Gain, but will be lesser than the Valve influence on Tonality. This is my experience of being a Valve Amp user of more than 30 years and a Slagle AVC owner for 10 years. I have no issues with Tonal Influences from recognisable Rich Tonal Influence, through to perceivable Transparency. In recent times, I go to the Transparent Influence, more than a influence from a hint of Rich Tone. |
@vthokie83 @dogearedaudio : I took a look at the website of Tubes4HiFi (really interesting, but none them where balanced) @jdub39 : thanks for this additional info Someone experiences/reflections on the SPL Selecter?? |
I am not familiar with your Bryston (or much of the rest of your rig for that matter), so I make these suggestions with caveat... Might be worth looking at a used Zesto. I have several clients that have these and love them. The one I’ve heard was excellent. There was one I was considering on US Audiomart not long ago within your budget, I think. If I remember correctly it had balanced in’s and out’s. Might also be worth looking at a VAC Standard Preamp. There was one with a phono stage on Reverb for $2K. Not balanced I don’t think but a very nice pre-amp for the price. You can sometimes see the VAC Renaissance pre-amps pop up that are still relatively close to your budget. Good luck. |
You might also consider the Pro-Ject Pre Box RS2 Digital, which has a small form factor yet has dual ESS Sabre 9038 DACs, a solid-state headphone amp, a selectable tube output stage (for speakers, solid-state also selectable from the settings menu) with 4x 6922s, a relatively large choice of filters, remote, I2S for connection to ProJect's premium CD transport, digital inputs AES, S/PDIF coax and optica (2)l, USB, BT, and analog inputs, XLR and unbalanced. It is in your budget. The casework is aluminum plate. I have two of these now, one in service with Buchardt actives and the other with passives and a NAD C298 Purifi power amplifier. |
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