Hi Anonamemouse...................now that you have had the SOVEREIGN DIRECTOR Signature Series(or is it still on order?) ....what your view/opinion of it on its own and/or compared to a Bryston Preamp?
As mentioned, it is here, and found a place in my system a few weeks ago.
I have had the BP 26 here for 2 weeks, borrowed from a friend who went on vacation. This was in december last year, so my memory is not exactly 100 % fresh on it. And unlike some, I do not have a perfect auditive memory (which is 100% impossible, nobody remembers super-specifics for more than a few minutes, and certainly when it comes to audio. Humans are simply not wired for that).
But...The Sovereign Director DEFINITELY is in a COMPLETELY different ballpark than the BP 26. It is much more detailed, gives much better staging, there is more of everything, everything just falls in the right place. I do not want to use vague terms to describe the difference, but "musical to the maximum" fits. The difference is not just "noticable", it really is MILES apart.
The BP 26 is a good pre amp. There is no doubt about that. But the Sovereign Director pushed my 4B SST2 to a place where the BP 26 simply will not come. It made me realize what an amazing power amp the 4B SST2 actually is.
Sorry James... Just keep in mind that the Sovereign is about 5 times as expensive...
Thomas Hoehne (owner of Sovereign, I picked the amp up at his home) DOES think of Bryston as a very worthy competitor.