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ARC or Jeff Rowland pre-amp?

I’m using Electrocompaniet EC-4.8 Pre-amp and AW-180 Mono-block power-amp about 5 to 6 years, I enjoy EC amp sound very much but recently want to try something new. I used listen to Mark Levinson No. 326S, Accuphase and several famous brands but they are not impressed me very much. Because I’m using Esoteric K-03X and Avalon Opus Ceramique speaker,  I know many Avalon speaker user are using JR and ARC pre-amp, and I heard a lot of good things about these amp , so I’m interest to give them a try, my target is ARC’s Ref 6 and JR’s Corus. Unfortunately I’m unable to compare them side by side at the same place because they have different distributor in my area.

 

I prefer natural, a little bit warm and sweat sound, not too fast but not slow, very good density and texture, good dynamic, wide soundstage, very high transparency and very good 3D dimension soundstage. I only listen to Jazz music, especially contemporary Jazz like Charlie Haden, Stan Getz, Bossa Nova, Pat Menthey, Enrico Pieranunzi…. which pre-amp you think is fit for my need?

 

Another important very thing is I will not change my EC AW-180 Mono-block power amp at this stage because no budget (And this power-amp drive My OPS Ceramique very well). So I need to know which pre-amp can work better with my power-amp?  THX!

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mmbl622
mmbl622 OP
58 posts
 
jafant

I was using Esoteric X-03SE CD and SACD player for the last 6 years, it sound very nice. I’ve test many other CDP but I think Esoteric sound best for me. Their latest model K-01, K-03X…. has same sound character with my old X-03SE, but it sound much better : Better transparency, better 3D dimension soundstage, more texture and density, more soft like silk (This is the biggest improvement, because many people said Esoteric’ s CDP sound very hard, lack of emotion). And you have an option to use the up-conversion (Up-sampling) , PCM and DSD-filter for your CD music playback. There are nearly 20 different combinations you can choose.


Oh yes, I also owned an Esoteric G-03X master clock for my X-03SE, but I sold it together with my X-03SE at the same time.  My K-03X sound even better than this combo without an external master clock.


mmbl622 OP
58 posts
 

May I have more suggestion or tips about my orginal question:

ARC Ref 6 and Jeff Rowland Corus:   Whcih pre-amp work better with my
Electrocompaniet AW-180 power-amp?

jafant's avatar
jafant
19,969 posts
 
Much Thanks! mmbl622
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
I have the Esoteric K03 and was using an ayre preamp into my magtech amps (actually external digital crossover).  The ayer preamp was a low priced one so I wanted to move up.  I ended up going with the Jeff Rowland Criterion and COULD NOT be happier.  Jeff Rowland is a GENIUS and the battery power really takes his stuff to a different level.  ARC had tube rush and Jeff had uber solid ink black backgrounds, a soundstage you can drive a truck through and dynamics that will make grandma blush.    
mmbl622 OP
58 posts
 

Hi triode12


I’m in Hong Kong, unfortunately we can’t get the equipment from a dealer in here to test at my home. All I can do is ask them to find a power-amp, speaker and CDP which has similar character with my system. Beside ARC, the Ref 6 dealer is selling McIntosh and Accuphase products. I’m planning to ask them to use a SS McIntosh power-amp to test with the Ref 6. Because I think McIntosh’s sound neutral and warm, which has similar character with Electrocompaniet.

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