It’s that time of year again … when the weather here in WI starts to get cold I tend to spend a lot more time in my listening room. And that usually means I get the itch to try new equipment too.
I have been running the same Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid preamp for a number of years now. I built it myself, so it has sentimental value, but it also has a lot of upgrades; dual mono Goldpoint attenuators, Goldpoint selector, silver wire throughout, upgraded caps, custom faceplate, etc.. (see pics). I guess you could you can say I’m “ignorantly happy” with it, meaning I haven’t tried anything else in so long I don’t know if I‘m missing something or not by sticking with it. The rest of my system is as shown in my profile; Perry Marshall designed OB speakers that I painstakingly built as last last winter‘s project (active with miniDSP crossover, bi-amped), Odyssey Khartago Extreme SE SS amp powering the big 18” woofers and a NuForce STA200 amp powering the coaxials, Cambridge CXN v2 streamer/DAC, Tubes4HiFi PH 16 phone pre and a VPI Classic 1 w/ Soundsmith Zephyr Mk2 cartridge. This is the first time in a long while that my system is using SS amplification, but I wanted more “oomph” to drive those OBs, even though they are pretty efficient. I like the tube sound, so I’m thinking I’d stick with a tube preamp. I really don’t know what the sound signature differences are with different tubes in a pre … the GG uses 12au7s.
Assuming the rest of my system stands pat for now (the only other thing I’m considering is an upgraded outboard DAC, which would likely lead to a standalone streamer to replace the CXN). Any suggestions on preamps to try? I rarely buy anything new, and I’m open to building one too (have considered the Tubes4Hifi SP 14, but I’m not sure what’s going on there since the business was sold). Ideally it would have remote volume, but that’s not a deal breaker. Anyway, just looking for input as a starting point. Budget would probably be $1000-$1500 on the used market. The GG preamp would get sold to offset the cost (mine is a self-funded hobby, per the wife 😉).
Appreciate the discussion and thoughts, guys!
I have been running the same Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid preamp for a number of years now. I built it myself, so it has sentimental value, but it also has a lot of upgrades; dual mono Goldpoint attenuators, Goldpoint selector, silver wire throughout, upgraded caps, custom faceplate, etc.. (see pics). I guess you could you can say I’m “ignorantly happy” with it, meaning I haven’t tried anything else in so long I don’t know if I‘m missing something or not by sticking with it. The rest of my system is as shown in my profile; Perry Marshall designed OB speakers that I painstakingly built as last last winter‘s project (active with miniDSP crossover, bi-amped), Odyssey Khartago Extreme SE SS amp powering the big 18” woofers and a NuForce STA200 amp powering the coaxials, Cambridge CXN v2 streamer/DAC, Tubes4HiFi PH 16 phone pre and a VPI Classic 1 w/ Soundsmith Zephyr Mk2 cartridge. This is the first time in a long while that my system is using SS amplification, but I wanted more “oomph” to drive those OBs, even though they are pretty efficient. I like the tube sound, so I’m thinking I’d stick with a tube preamp. I really don’t know what the sound signature differences are with different tubes in a pre … the GG uses 12au7s.
Assuming the rest of my system stands pat for now (the only other thing I’m considering is an upgraded outboard DAC, which would likely lead to a standalone streamer to replace the CXN). Any suggestions on preamps to try? I rarely buy anything new, and I’m open to building one too (have considered the Tubes4Hifi SP 14, but I’m not sure what’s going on there since the business was sold). Ideally it would have remote volume, but that’s not a deal breaker. Anyway, just looking for input as a starting point. Budget would probably be $1000-$1500 on the used market. The GG preamp would get sold to offset the cost (mine is a self-funded hobby, per the wife 😉).
Appreciate the discussion and thoughts, guys!
When I got curious to see what was out there since 15 years, I experimented with some of the cheap but well reviewed chinese preamps and dac/pre/headphone amp, such as FIIO and Topping. It is fun to have something to compare - and you always get at least 30 day trial.
Admittedly it‘s full of some very expensive vintage tube, and costly capacitors but man it’s just sublime…
