Brian's THE Show sound was absolutely intoxicating.
This is pure lunacy on my part to admit this, but it never stopped me before. I am convinced I am able to make reasonably accurate conclusions (at least for my own purposes) about individual components when auditioning equipment, as long as I have previous experience w/ some of the ancillary components/equipment. I'm not going to list the reasons, but suffice to say that my conclusions have repeatedly held up over time, even after getting to hear the stuff in my own system.
This was the most fun I've had at any CES. I got to spend all of the four days auditioning some of the best systems I've heard, including Brians.
I agree w/ Brian's assesment of the Ambrosia's sound quality. The other preamp that was very impressive was the new $4k ModWright model SWL 36.5 (his son's weight at the time the preamp was named). I heard both the Ambrosia & both ModWrights preamps (the original 9.0) at length. BTW, Dan indeed is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I never met him & didn't look at his badge. I noticed the sound needed help when first auditioning the 9.0 preamp. I first thought it was the speakers, but later decided they couldn't be that bad. I remembered the preamp inverts the signal. I asked the vendor if he knew the preamp inverted polarity & suggested in a friendly tone (at least) he might want to invert the speaker leads. He said, oh yes, & inverted the leads & we both agreed it now sounded pretty darn good, a big improvement. Then I see it's Dan. Relax, I apologized profusely for not knowing who I was talking to. He's such a gentleman.
Yes, I know, I should conclude nothing because the systems & room were different, but I don't buy that.
The MW is absolutely worth the extra price over the original $2500 preamp 9.0. It's quieter, more dynamic, more accurate, more musical, better in every way.
But I estimate the Ambrosia is unfortunately worth the extra money over the MW 36.5. Just not having to think about tubes wearing out, leaving it on all the time. Plus my estimate is that the Ambrosia is again just as much better than the 36.5 as the 36.5 is better than the 9.0. My 2c.
The Ambrosia has detail like its going out of style. My buddy & I were in Brian's room Wednesday night after closing, around 9pm. We heard a couple of my songs then listened to my friend's Dark Side of The Moon w/ the lights out & the glorious tubes lighting the dark. Besides the detail, the musical quality & smoothness were abundant. Dynamics, punch, it's all there. Noise floor lower than anything I've heard except for MAYBE the proprietary Krell Evolution system described below. An Ambrosia/Krell Evolution preamp shootout would be very interesting.
There were other exceptionally good electronics such as Edge & of course Pass Labs. I liked the Audio Analogue integrateds & the new Creek Destiny integrated very much.
I personally think the latest Krell Evolution technology is probably the best currently available, but it requires a complete commitment of an entire system from source to amp & starts around $60k. The technology appears original, I believe is already patented, & Krell won't be licensing it. It inverts the source/load relationships (high source impedance/low load impedance). Much original & proprietary technology is employed, but the magic is that many gain stages were eliminated. Unfortunately for show visitors Krell was at the Mirage across the street from the Venetian, which probably prevented many people from hearing it. But they sure got better sound than they would otherwise have gotten at the Convention Center! Krell is coming out w/ a new stereo Evolution amp for only about $11k (whoopee, get two!)
