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...And you’re BOTH awesome for going above and beyond, helping through a rocky road of a demo this winter. Jason
Speaking of AWESOME, that is EXACTLY what your L2 preamp is... AWESOME! Simply Amazing!
A few updates:- Everyone who ordered the L2 Isolation Bases should have them by now (or by the end of this week).- 6moons has recently updated their L2 Preamp preview, and is now 5-pages of information for those who want to learn more about the L2 Preamp design (beyond what is mentioned in this thread and on the website). Srajan emailed me to confirmed that he received the L2 today and he will be digging into the actual review shortly. https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/vinnierossi/- I am aiming to ship the L2 Preamp to Anthony Kershaw of Audiophilia next week, so hopefully he'll have it by the end of this month.- I'll be in AXPONA Room 488 next month with the L2 Preamp & Monoblocks. All cabling by Triode Wire Labs. Loudspeakers for the show will be a surprise. Vinnie
We'll skip variation #4 as well because it too would have meant kicking a man whilst down. The 12AU7 in Nagra's Classic just couldn't compete against the [L2 equipped with] Takatsuki 300B...This underscored at least in my private appointment calender how today's L2 truly was a class apart to justify its tariff in full. There was no sense comparing it to other preamps... Hifi reviews aren't blood sports...Vinnie's L2 now allowed one to clone advanced SET attributes from properly spec'd transistor amps. De facto it meant, 1/ hitching that type sound to SET-unfriendly 'normal' speakers and 2/, doing so with no impact on musical choices.A solution as elegantly simple as Vinnie Rossi's L2 preamp we might have expected from one of the big established tube houses like Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, VTL... yet none of them—not one!—managed. The global market has nothing at all like it. L2 is the first and only one of its kind... L2 stands alone. It also does in offering that very practical alternate tube-less path of Jfet buffer for when your glass may be down awaiting replacement, or for when you need a bypass. It does so with its 2.5V, 4V and 5V toggles which take tube specimens from all three voltage families. It does so with its optional DAC and phono boards, with its special-order headphone amp module. To anyone who's been in hifi long enough to know that invariably, you can find something very similar behind a different face plate, the Vinnie Rossi L2 is a major stumper. With it, there just isn't, period...With the Vinnie Rossi L2 line stage, that well-trodden claim—of direct-heated triodes being the most linear low-distortion audio gain devices ever made—has finally grown legs to stand on and not just walk but sprint like a racer... As now truly themselves without the traditional crutches or interpreters, they finally step into the bright light of day with genuine purity and speed. And that equals bandwidth, noise and resolution figures which are on par with the best of transistors. The resultant sonics are very special!
Also - if you are interested what is coming next (late summer 2019), don't forget to read page 10. Vinnie
There might be some mad people over that.
Hi Vinnie,An L2 integrated - a perfect product in my opinion and a natural evolvment from the separates. Many people including myself findsthe superintegrated amp ( with DAC or phonostage) to be the ultimate. I am still enjoying my LIO with AVC/tubestage but I guess thisnew L2 will be quite a bit superior. Hopefully pricing will be competitive as well. A more powerful LIO was for obvious reasons not possible but the L2 platform makes it possible. Congrats Vinnie and hopefully you can explain more about them in detail soon.Regards Magnus
Vinnie,Looking forward to the next update on the L2i ! ....and also the details of the LIO trade in! Going to be one of the first in line for the L2i . Will the dimensions of the integrated be same as LIO--or fit into the same box?
(Meanwhile my LIO is sounding better than ever with my new Triode Wire cables. I really need to write up a review but not sure what circle to put it in.)
..As Rossi suggests, the preamplifier is dead silent. No tube rush, nothing. A black background for the musicians to paint their sounds. During the break in, I had become enamoured with its sound during my standard sneak peeks. Warm, rich and refined, yet with incredible detail. All instruments shone with the most beautiful halo of vibrant sound. Vocals, too. Deep, rich, throaty. But with a harmonic ‘completeness’ to their presentation. Almost tactile. And definitely goosebump time. I could imagine the artists smiling and nodding with pride if they heard this type of playback. ..The L2 enhanced my very fine digital setup, and considering the preamplifier section of the Continuum S2 (basically, a Jeff Rowland Capri II preamplifier) is outstanding and an obvious match for its connected amplifier section, it couldn’t better the gorgeous sounds the 300Bs were portraying. For sure, a completely different topology, but the way Rossi has his tubes singing is very persuasive. ..Adding this fantastic bit of kit will elevate your musical experience into regions you have yet imagined. ..It could live in my system happily. Forever. Very highly recommended.
Anthony Kershaw's (Audiophilia.com) Part 1 review of the L2 Signature Preamplifier is live! http://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2019/3/29/vinnie-rossi-l2-signature-preamplifier[Parts 2 and 3 are to follow and will focus on the L2 DAC and L2 Phonostage options]Thank you, Anthony! Vinnie
You'll also see an impeccable dual-mono layout of the 4-layer motherboard as well as two large black metal covers for shielding sensitive parts of the DHT and Jfet stages as well as the balanced i/o stages. Going with a 4-layer PCB meticulously routed by a true layout guru whom I commissioned for this was absolutely critical in getting the noise floor this low. It allows us to route sensitive traces between ground planes and allowed for different ground planes inside the layers.For example, the power feed for all control circuitry—relays used for input select, volume control, DHT filament voltage selection as well as the front panel display, push buttons, IR etc.—is sourced from a dedicated 5V linear regulated feed and its own isolated ground called DGND. There are multiple isolated grounds within the 4-layer PCB: analog ground left/right, digital ground for the control circuits, DHT ground for the left/right filament power feeds and AC ground aka chassis ground which ties to the safety ground of the AC cable and mains outlet.How I taught myself to 'reference' these various grounds against each other so to speak—except for digital ground which has nothing to do with any of the analog circuitry—was another essential piece of the puzzle in getting such remarkably low hum and noise. I didn't figure it out overnight. It happened gradually over the course of experimenting for many months well after LIO DHT PRE had gone into production. This really was the hardest part of the whole L2 Preamplifier design. Many nights damn near led me to insanity!Another thing I learnt is that a floating filament supply like a battery or isolated ultracap bank is not the best solution against hum pickup. While the power itself is very clean, things are a lot more complicated in terms of picking up radiated noise fields with the filament-driven triodes. Certain tubes I gave up on with LIO like the Psvane WE205-D Western Electric replica due to excessive hum are quiet in the L2 preamp.
Damn that's sexy!
...performance among the very best phonostages at this price (or higher), serious triode love, and that remote with loading from your listening chair.You want the full Rossi experience? An excellent phono stage? A no brainer, then.
