My local dealer doesn't stock the STR Preamp, but when I told him an online merchant offers a 60d trial and 2-day shipping, he agreed to match the terms. On arrival, I fed it burn-in tones for about 150 hrs. I don't believe in that, but to my ears, it made a difference here.
I've played many kinds of music (not metal) and I like the unit very, very much. ARC2 is terrific. The sound is very clean and smooth and very involving. The DAC is excellent. Integration of my two subs is perfect.
I enjoy having tone controls for occasional quick tweaks. They are quite transparent.
In summary, this is a great preamp that I could easily see selling for 50% to 100% more. Even though I don't use the analog inputs or phono, I think it's a bargain and a class "A" component. I'm keeping it.
I've played many kinds of music (not metal) and I like the unit very, very much. ARC2 is terrific. The sound is very clean and smooth and very involving. The DAC is excellent. Integration of my two subs is perfect.
I enjoy having tone controls for occasional quick tweaks. They are quite transparent.
In summary, this is a great preamp that I could easily see selling for 50% to 100% more. Even though I don't use the analog inputs or phono, I think it's a bargain and a class "A" component. I'm keeping it.