I posted a review of the Purist along with a 'buncha stuff' in the Critic's Circle. However, it was kind of buried and thought I'd paste the review here....
The Purist will be picked up this afternoon by UPS to go to its next demo and I'm sad to say I didn't get to play with it more. It's been busy 'round here.
Anyway, in the following review I compared 3 other preamps as well The other 3 had their own character. The Purist didn't color the sound with 'tubeyness', warmth, or other toning effects. It was not dry or wet however very musical. It revealed my sources best of the group.
Here's the
actual review and the pertinent excerpts follow:
Preamps:
Biggest surprise of the bunch: Purist. It sounds so incredibly neutral. It is exactly the definition of what a preamp should do/be. It gets out of the way and lets the music play. The sound is clean, soundstage is tightly focused, and accuracy is dead-on. It lets the sources sound like they sound.
The next one I heard was the Philly 7a with a tube compliment of an English 6x4, French 12AU7 and 2 Russian 6922's. If it had a couple more it'd be the 'U.N.' pre. However, world peace has been achieved with this combination as it produces what sounds very close to real, live amplified music. It sounds like you're at the show. It doesn't sound like everyone is in your room but it's close. It's like everyone's in your room but are mic'ed. There is a slight bit of microphonics with this tube compliment but there's no ringing, and it's the quietest tube pre I've ever heard. The stock tubes were awful. Ringing, microphonic... to the point of getting feedback. Maybe one had gone bad? I don't know.
Then, there was ol' reliable Mr. EE Minimax w/ some NOS tubes rolled in. I was using the Tungsol 6x4 w/ side-getter, a E80CC and a Raytheon 5814. Beautifully warm yet accurate presentation. This preamp excels in musicality and palpability making it an all-time favorite. The Mini with the Scott Nixons was eerily palpable. Oh so sweet with a deep soundstage and vocals and instruments that lept out at you. Wow.
Oh, and the ZTPre... It's sort of a mix of all of the above. It's not as lively as the Mini or the Philly. The sound is more tubey and smoother than the Purist. The ZT is very quiet and effortless sounding. Plus it's adjustable. The ZT is a solid preamp sonically. It's tough to beat, it does nothing wrong but at the same time has no major 'wow' factor.
The only reason the Purist wow'ed me was because it's new to me, and I was expecting it to sound more solid state-ish than it did. So, I was pleasantly surprised that it sounded excellent and I can't fault it in any way.
