PS Audio PMG Signature Preamp or BHK Signature Preamp or Bryston BP-19

Looking for better depth of sound stage, more open & better separation of individual instruments with more detail. I’m not opposed to a touch of sweeting. Would still like to retain a big full & rich sound.

I had a Bryston BP6 for years, and it’s the closest thing to straight wire with gain I’ve ever heard — it’s completely transparent and literally just gets outta the way and sounds like nothing.  In doing so it’s supremely quiet allowing images to unfold in an expansive 3D soundstage with great separation, depth, and tight bass.  If you feed it something warm or cold it’ll come through completely, but if you’re looking to add a touch of sweetness or warmth it will not do that.  I’d think the BP19 would inherent a lot of those traits although reviews may or may not agree with that, but if their trend in amps is any guide if anything it might be a touch on the warmer side but that’s just a guess.  Anyway, not sure if this helps you at all but wanted to share just in case.  You might check out Pass or Ayre as they likely do add a touch of sweetness along with good transparency.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

A friend went from a Krell to a PMG pre, and he said it is dead quiet.  He’s a huge analog guy and loves the PMG.  It’s apparent that PS Audio has had a philosophical change to their design approach, away from tubes, concentrating more on an absolute quiet noise floor.  

As of January 1, 2026 Bryston’s warranty on analog components changed to 10 years non-transferable. If you plan on reselling, this is a negative but the 10 years is still an industry high.

I did not think my the BP-19 was thin, it was just true, clear, and detailed. Depending on the recording, it had great separation of instruments and vocals.

I just traded my BHK for the PMG.  I don’t know if this is the correct analogy to use or not, but here goes anyway, the way it seems to me, is the BHK always had pretty good control of the BHK 300 mono amps, now the PMG has an iron fisted grip on the amps.  The first thing I noticed is there was way more bass, it had me running to my REL S510 sub to turn the volume down, I had it turned up to around 11 o’clock with the BHK but turned it down to around 2 to 3 with the PMG installed. 

To be very honest, the sound was disappointing at first listen, not to the point of being worse than the BHK, just not as good as I thought it would be.  At that point I just walked away and let the thing play for the rest of the day, then turned everything off when it was time to sleep for the night.  The next day I turned it back on then walked away for several hours with the music playing.  When I finally sat down to listen, it sounded like a totally different system.  I have listened every day for 3 or 4 hours since then, and it only gets better.  Everything about the sound is much better than I have ever heard this system sound.  I have heard a lot about break in, but I have never experienced it to this extent with any new electronics.

  I have always had a balance problem with the BHK in my room, with the biggest problem being that the center image would change with different songs.  I always attributed this problem to the room itself and just decided to deal with it because I still had pretty good sound, I just had to move the balance to the right side on some songs.  The only problem with moving the balance to the right side on some tracks is the fact that the dynamics seemed to take a bit of a hit.  With the PMG installed, I still had to move the balance to the right side around 3 to 4 db, the only difference now, is I just set it and forget it, plus the dynamics don’t take the hit like they did with the BHK.  All around I am way more satisfied with the PMG and glad I listened to Paul and made the switch.  Is it 6 grand worth, uuuhh the jury is still out on that one, maybe after my wallet recovers it won’t bother me as much, lol.

For anyone interested, my basic system consists of the PMG running the BHK 300 mono amps, music is sourced from an Aurender N20, sound is coming from Focal Sopra 2's.  My room is around 19 ft by 13 ft with 10 ft coffered ceiling, I don't have any room treatments other than the furniture that is in the room.

I’d like to thank everyone for their input and taking the time to share your thoughts on these preamps.  I sent my BHK back to PS Audio last week to have some low-level noise taken care of.  I saw on their website last night that they were allowing a $3000.00 credit towards the PMG and also a new, 60 day trial period, so I broke out the plastic and bought one.  They will hold onto my BHK in case I return the PMG.  I won’t have to pay for the out of warranty repair fee either if I keep the PMG.  It should arrive Wednesday.  Audio Advisor also offers a free return policy, so I may grab a BP-19 to compare with.  As vandy357 mentioned here, I hope it’s an improvement worth $6000.  We shall see.

BTW, if anyone is wondering, my system consists of the PS Audio Airlens, Stellar Gold DAC (which I prefer to my original Directstream DAC), BHK 250, two REL T/7X subs and Magnepan 3.7x speakers.