Kudos to Gary Dodd for allowing people to audition his preamps for just the cost of shipping. Gary has several preamps and I requested to audition his most inexpensive one which goes for $450.00 I had never listened to anything with tubes and was anxious to hear how it sounded. Unfortunately I have nothing to compare this to except for my existing preamp - NAD 1020A from 1984 (now you know why I'm shopping for a preamp) Gary builds each one of his units by hand and it certainly shows. This is a gorgeous little preamp and craftsmanship looks first rate. Look at the gr-research forum for pictures. It has two inputs and one output as well as an AV input for home theater. how does it sound: simply put, great. This preamp has a very smooth grain free sound with "spot on imaging" and seemed to be a good match with my ss amp. One of the things that impressed me was it's ability to maintain these characteristics at high volumes which to me is a good gauge to measure any preamp's mettle by. I primarily listened to 3 cd's while auditioning this along with many hours of NPR listening
Little Feat - Waiting for colombus the latest reissue
Jessie Harris and the Ferdinandos - The Secret Sun
Eric Clapton- One More Car one more Rider
All of these sounded great and I don't want to bore you with alot of cliche's but if you're interested in a great sounding little preamp the Dodd is definitely worth an audition and wish I could have kept it
Associated eqpt:
Gr-Research AV1 speakers
Soundcraftsman pcr 800 amp
Cheap- rca dvd/cd player
Stouts silver ic and speaker wire
Onkyo tuner
