[ralpheburns]

Hey Y'all are great.  Very good inputs.

I do think things will be a bit anemic without a proper preamp.  But why the small volume steps?  The stereo is right in the living room... across from the kitchen... for me the joy is to cook and listen, not sit and listen...too ADD.  For my wife... well not so much and especially not the historical folky and afro stuff that seems to get selected... so I listen at low volume levels.  That's why I try harder for articulate bass.. the box speaker woofers are not so efficient at lower levels.  I do need to work on the room too... not confident it's going to be so worthwhile since it's an entirely open floorplan.  I will shoot a new photo in a day or two and upload... my equipment rack will finally get done and together this week.  Jeez, once stuff is off the floor I might be more inclined to reach for the big volume knob!  Guess I'm just one who likes to change the volume frequently and set it "just right".

I kinda have to DAC+integrated pre's on the list.... MSB Analog DAC, Grace M905 and Lampizator, oh dear.  I did once have an AMR DP-777 and liked it's volume control sound quite well... except the thing was so darn unreliable and now I have a library of DSD files to boot.  And for active pre's there's Aesthetix, ARC5 and I'd like to demo one more that boasts bass grip.  And the Vinnie Rossi thing... if it has a dark background it'll come across dynamic, but not hanging hopes terribly high.

I'm curious to learn more about Thomas Mayer's 10Y; how bulky it is, how much it costs and how it might sound.

Thanks again!  - RalphE

[jsm71]

I'm not sure why you feel Cary preamps don't support small step volume control.  Both the SLP-05 and SLP-98 have two ways to manage gain, one being the master volume control and separate balance controls.  Each has separate L and R gain controls to manage balance, and as a side benefit lower the overall sensitivity of the master volume control.  This is particularly useful if your amp has no gain control and has high power.

I like to have a lot of swing with my master volume control so that changes are indeed not so sensitive.  I have the balance controls each lowered to nearly half gain.  This allows me on some recordings to crank the master control nearly all the way.  This allows the remote to raise and lower volume gently, making it easy to find the best volume.

[ralpheburns]

Hello again Tube-o-Philes,

I wanted to report back my findings.  I gathered several DACs and a couple preamps and several audiophile friends to help keep me sane in the listening comparison.

The preamps were:
Aesthetix Calypso Signature
my Hegel P30 SS preamp

DACs were:
Grace Designs M905
Auralic Vega
Mytec 192 DSD
Hegel HD25
MSB Analog DAC

Other: Quicksilver Silver amps w/KT150s, Sonus Elispa Red speakers, Kimber KS1026, KS1126 and KS6065, CAPS micro Zuma with DSD & PCM files.

The result?  By and large the six listeners heard pretty much the same thing.  We were impressed most by the MSB Analog DAC using it's volume control.  It provided resolution and imaging not previously achieved in my living room, and three of us wanted to get one.  I think the Hegel HD25 takes second place at a fraction of the price.

Adding the Hegel P30 preamp after the MSB added a small margin of depth, transience, and a little lower-mid warmth bump without giving up resolution, but primarily very transparent.  The Aesthetix preamp ended up to not be any sort of contender, and the same went for the Grace M905.

Another bonus is that my wife likes the sound through the MSB, and normally she prefers peace and quiet...   So I'm on the closing stretch of the decision process... and looking to sell my Hegel HD25 preamp & P30 preamp to help fund the DAC purchase.

(I listed the P30 here:  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=131142.msg1387292#msg1387292)

Peace out - Ralph

[SteveFord]

Heck, go out to your wife's car, drill a few holes in her muffler with a 1 1/2" metal cut out bit and after a few weeks of bombing around she won't be able to tell the difference between 1 decibel and 4 decibel increments.
Problem solved and at a low cost and you get something new to add to your tool box.
P.S.
I enjoyed reading about the shoot out, they're always fun to do.

[ACHiPo]

Kinda late to this party, but have you tried AtmaSphere?  I have (and love) their amps.  I have not tried their preamps, but have heard nothing but wonderful things about them.  I went the other way (solid state Jeff Rowland Consummate phono and pre), but I would definitely give Ralph's gear a try.

[SteveFord]

Don't forget Audio Research, they make some really nice sounding preamps.

[Mags]

What happened to the Vinnie Rossi unit? Did you ever test it? Curious as to the results...

[ralpheburns]

Howdy -

I had to flip a coin whether to demo the Aesthetix or ARC REF5SE... when I've heard ARC they sounded sterile.. and that was the same feedback I received from one of my buddies who has lots of experience listening to them.  Do suppose that I could done lots of driving and demo'ed them both... but the question was really answered with the MSB into the Hegel P30 preamp... that the margins gained are small to debatable by adding a pre afterwards.  The Hegel P30 really has shown superbly in each situation.

Sadly, I'm not going to give the Vinnie Rossie LIO a chance.  It's just my guess that because it's trying to be a jack of all trades on a budget that it couldn't best a dedicated R2R DAC.  I wish it had arrived in time, but it did not and I felt it's better karma to just cancel my order instead of having Vinnie ship a unit back & forth on his nickel just for my edification.  I did spend for a pair of brand new, well-matched Telefunken 6922's just to have when the LIO arrived and now have no use for them.... dunno if it's better to sell or archive them?

If I want a preamp in the future, I think to first look towards Thomas Mayer's at a similar price point as the ARC REF2SE.  His remote version does 2dB volume steps, and a fella could always go full tilt and get silver transformers.

It's not 100% decided on the MSB, as I have to experiment more with some system integration and negotiate a decent purchase.  One of my listening buddies is doing exactly the same so we might move in step together on this...  ensuring future commiseration!

[rollo]

   Do not forget Lamm or Response Audio.


charles