[Niteshade]

Hey!

Thanks for chiming in about your listening experiences at Randy's!

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[Hebrew Hammer]

OK... so it's going to be a very sad day sunday when I pack this baby up and ship it to the next person... 

So the thing is... if you are in the market for a preamp and you are looking to spend +/- 4-5g's then you would be silly not to get this..

Seriously, never have I experienced a tube anything without noise floor.. the is a very crucial aspect of making your system disappear.. and my reluctance to go the tube route has always hinged on this aspect.. but this baby it's spooky dead quite..

Placement in the soundscape is spot on, bass is full and tonally beautiful... great micro detail and dynamics are fantastic..

People this is one of those rare pieces that outperforms it's price point by allot and gives allot of the big dogs are run for their money..  stop getting hung up on uber esoteric names using uber esoteric parts as this preamp really opened my eyes to what truly showing me that the design is just as important if not more..

so the bottom line is buy the damn thing...

[rollo]

  As a final thought a dead quite alive sound. If you cannot afford a CAT then this is the alternative for much less mulla. KISS as it should be. Before you malke the plunge on ANY preamp you owe it to yourself to demo this unit. KABOOM for the BUCK is an understatement.
   Makes me wonder how his amps sound togeter with this preamp. Blair we are having a Audiosyndrome multiclub[ 2 home venues] Rave in May. We would love for you to attend and present your gear. Melody has agreed so far to join us.The more the merrier.



charles

[Mike B.]

OK, I am intrigued by the positive comments. How do I get an audition?

[etcarroll]

PM the OP - Niteshade.

[Niteshade]

OK- I have Mike on the tour. Who else would like to be on it? If I missed someone, you can get on as well. Don't want to skip anybody!

[highfilter]

I would love to try it out, but I'm in Canada. So if you ever send something over this way... 

[Mike B.]

FedEx dropped off a package with a ton of tape on it yesterday. I tried to figure out what I had ordered. I was surprised to find that the Niteshade preamp had arrived. It sat until this morning before installing. Initial listening impressions. Dynamic, detailed, clean presentation. More to come.

[Mike B.]

I enjoyed my time with the Niteshade Beacon preamp. I compared it to a modified Quicksilver line stage and H-Cat P12R. Cabling and power cords were T.G. Audio and higher end Audioquest. Digital transport was a Cambridge 640 and the DAC a Burson using a Bolder cable digital cable. Amps used were Odyssey Extreme Monos. I have a pair of Sophia Electric 845 amps but did not try them.
I thought the Quicksilver might be a good match. Similar price range but with extensive mods including Dact attenuator, Mundorf silver gold coupling caps, FRED diodes and bypasses in the power supply, Cardas silver wiring. The Quicksilver did seem to be better in the first two octaves, but from then on the Niteshade was better. I heard more detail, better separation of individuals/instruments, and a more realistic high frequency presentation. It was very close to the H-Cat in many ways. If I had any nits to pick it would be with the features of this unit. I understand this can be remedied by adding more inputs and a remote volume control.
I tried the Niteshade interconnects between CD player and preamp. They are not long enough to reach from pre to amps. I retraced the selection of discs I had previously heard. I don't know what the price is for these cables but they replaced units that sold for $800 a meter. I didn't care for them compared to my reference. They present to much energy in the upper mids. This is a characteristic I associate with silver plated copper interconnects. Detail and stage also didn't match the reference cords. Keep in mind this is my conclusions using my stuff in my room with my ears. YMMV.
Again thanks to Blair for the loan. The preamp is a sonic winner IMO.