hi francisco,
ya, i recommended the sha-1 to ya - i'd still stick to that recommendation for anyone looking for a fantastic pre for ~$500. i only said yers may have been defective, cuz ya said the toobs were ringing microphonically. 1st time i've ever heard anyone say melos gear was microphonic.
imo, the melos gear *is* neutral, not at all coloured or warm. (perhaps there are some synergy issues, inwolved, tho?) coloured and warm is how i would describe the cary slp-98 and the rogue magnum 99 i had prior to the melos. before venturing into toobs, i had a linn kairn preamp. an excellent solid-state pre, imo... great flexibility, great ergonomics. also, *extremely* transparent. i liked everyting about it - *except*, it had a flat soundstage, even tho the width & height was supurb. i'd likely still be using it, if it had some soundstage depth.
the melos i'm now using added no warmth at all to my system, compared to the linn. it obscured absolutely no details whatsoever. it allowed me to hear increases in detail when modding my dac - someting i did in stages - & each time, ya could hear the background noise drop further away, and the added detail would make itself apparent. if my pre weren't so transparent, i don't tink it wooda allowed me to hear all the cumulative changes i was making to my dac. the only tings the melos added to my system was soundstage depth, which was what i was hoping for, & added dynamics, which was an unexpected bonus!
if this is colouration, so be it - as ya say, it's in a *good way*, and that's what matters to me most. i would now expect the same from dan's - or anyone's - top-notch linestage: extreme transparency, neutral, extended, dynamic, excellent soundstaging capability.
re: what sadono is saying, i am well aware of the order of the amplification process, thanks...
as i said before, i yust happen to tink the pre is the most important link in the chain. as i also said before, i know others may disagree w/me. tink i care, if they're stupid?
yust kidding... actually, i know some folk tink the pre is so unimportant, they'd rather run their source gear straight in to their amps, bypassing the pre altogether. to each his/her own...
doug s.