Best option for retrofit

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Superchunk

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Best option for retrofit
« on: 17 Dec 2023, 02:01 am »
Hello all. I've been doing research as I want to upgrade the volume control on my tube preamp, which is fantastic but built to a fairly low price point, so I've been looking to upgrade since I can't beat it at 10x the price, I've tried.

So I've been researching but starting from zero, 100% stupid, ignorant.

That said, I decided on the tortuga as seeming to fit all my needs both for sound quality and features.

My understanding is, the mini seems to be the one to choose for a retrofit? Is this true? It should fit into my case and be pretty easy (my very good tech will do the work). And the tech as regards sound quality is the same?

They are sold out, is that temporary or is it because of v4?

I would wait for v4 especially because I would love balance control and it seems an area of improvement.l, but how far away is that expected to be? Weeks, months? A year?

Thanks for any thoughts at all, I'm sorry to post when being so ignorant but I feel I've reached the limit of my ability to learn without talking it out.

tortugaranger

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Re: Best option for retrofit
« Reply #1 on: 20 Dec 2023, 07:18 pm »
My understanding is, the mini seems to be the one to choose for a retrofit? Is this true? It should fit into my case and be pretty easy (my very good tech will do the work). And the tech as regards sound quality is the same?

The V3 Mini is easier to integrate into a constrained space typical of an existing preamp. It essentially replaces the existing volume potentiometer. The Mini is a single stereo channel unit - no switching between inputs. A Mini also can't calibrate its own LDR module. There's no fundamental sound quality differences between the Min and Max - in my subjective opinion.

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They are sold out, is that temporary or is it because of v4?

Tortuga Audio has been stood down since July related to our move from Florida to Oregon. I hope to have operations back up starting in January. No more V3 units are planned to be produced. The focus going forward is the V4.

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I would wait for v4 especially because I would love balance control and it seems an area of improvement. But how far away is that expected to be? Weeks, months? A year?

I hope to have the V4 ready for sale by April but that's just a good faith guess. I'll have a much better idea of progress later in January once I've had a chance to work with the next iteration of V4 development hardware that's waiting to be tested.

Due to the V4 design changes, only the Max will be released initially. Once I have some run time with the Max, I expect to eventually release a V4 Mini. The timing of a V4 Mini release remains uncertain.