AricAudio's new Jackpot 5751 tube-rectified truly balanced preamplifier

I received my Jackpot a little more than a week ago and I’ve ran it over 60 hours at this point so it should be reasonably settled in.  All I can say is WOW!  It beats my old preamp in every way and any other preamp that I’ve ever owned.  My last two preamps retailed for $15,000 and $20,000 respectively. One was solid state and the other tubed. I never realized how closed in my system sounded before.  Everything is better.  Much more detail, clarity, slam and cohesiveness.  The sound stage is incredible and the dynamics can be startling. It never sounds fatiguing as I can listen for hours at a time.  The Jackpot is very well built and looks great.  There is a real pride of ownership with it.  The Jackpot is a major bargain in my opinion.  
 

I was lucky enough to actually meet Aric at his workshop shop in western Massachusetts as I live less than an hour and a half away.  I drove down to pick up the preamp.  He is a real gentleman. Anyone in the market for a new tube preamp should have this one on the top of their list.

Thank you teajay for bringing this marvelous piece to my attention and thank you Aric for making such a great preamp at such a reasonable price.  I can’t be happier.

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Jackpot. It is a "marvelous" line-stage and a bargain for what it costs. I have already had another couple of preamps in for review that were quite good. However, I still prefer the Jackpot's performance in my system and the other two pieces cost almost triple the price! Hope, GON members will consider Aric's new creation, great performance/build quality/ customer service and very reasonable pricing.

Hi all, 

I’m late to this party and hoping to hijack the conversation briefly with an Aric Audio preamp question: I have slightly bright/clinical speakers (Persona 3F & Persona sub) that I will have for a while before I eventually upgrade to either the Dali Kore or Epikore 11.  That decision is settled. However, before I get to that, I’m hoping to create some better magic with the current speakers. Currently have an Anthem STR that I’m likely to swap for a different amp/preamp. I’ve determined that I just don’t love how the STR is voiced. I’ve been told that an amp like the Pathos Logos or Kratos is a good match to make the Personas sing and those both have tubed preamp sections. I was considering going with separates and have read everything available about numerous preamps including Aric’s but obviously those aren’t around to audition. Many in this thread appear to have experience with these preamps so I’m hoping to solicit some thoughts about Aric preamps, any wisdom on power amp pairing with them, and whether they may be a good choice for my current and future speakers. 

For reference, music taste is quite varied, and i use a Pro-Ject Turntable, a Mac mini as a Roon Core feeding an Auralic Aries G2 streamer and have a Aavik D280 DAC. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me if the Aric preamp can handle the 5 Vrms signal coming from the DAC (which my Anthem STR cannot). Thanks much!

@brewerslaw - I would suggest you contact Aric directly and ask him about what his preamps can handle; he's a great fellow to communicate with by email or phone. 

@brewerslaw My preamplifiers can safely handle a 5 volt RMS Input from the source without coming anywhere near clipping. The balanced ML XL can handle 12 volts RMS without exceeding 1% distortion at the inputs. Please feel free to reach out to me through my website if you have any questions!

Best regards, Aric