Aric Audio Systems Unlimited Preamp

Aric, thanks for the explanation. Makes sense. I did a bit of a binge listening last night mostly familiar tracks and am now appreciating the change even more. The Omega single drivers can get a bit "too upfront" in the midrange particularly at louder volumes. With these (tube) changes the overall sound appears to be more even and balanced. The net impact is a more realistic soundstage without any negative affect on the texture or imaging, etc. Not sure how else to describe the affect. Very interesting. 

Ok,I am truely enjoying this new tube set up. Next question,what 12a_7 are you guys running,and what are your impressions?
   

In my experience, the "flavor" that different signal tubes add/subtract to/from the music and whether or not you ultimately prefer the sound, will depend on the gear upstream and downstream from the Unlimited, maybe even the cables. I have tried JJ, Tung Sol Gold Pin, Mullard new stock, vintage Mullard, and vintage Telefunken signal tubes.  When I had my SS DAC and Vincent hybrid amp driving Vandersteen 2Ci speakers, I thought the two vintage brands sounded slightly more musical. But now with a tube DAC and an SE tube amp and single driver speakers, same cables and same room, I have settled on the new stock Mullards and sometimes I swap in the new stock Tung Sol Gold Pins. I feel these tubes are a bit more neutral and better complement the rest of my system. The vintage tubes seem to add a tad too much emphasis on the midrange which I don't really need given the character of the speakers and the rest of the tubes in the signal chain. I am not talking night and day here and the experience could vary quite a bit by the type of music and the recording. The best bet is to just try different pairs and see which ones sound better to your ears in your system/room. Vintage tubes can get very pricey but new stock tubes are fairly reasonably priced and I honestly do not think the sound difference justifies the cost difference, at least in my experience. Hope this helped.
  

Thanks for the input kalali. To me,and I know others, this hobby has me sometimes  chasing the dragon. Currently I'm running the tubes Aric ships the pre with. No complaints at all. I was thinking of trying some vintage RCA cleartops. I guess I'm just thinking of changing for the sake of change. I think I need to seek help!  :)

Does anybody have an Unlimited or the Transcend 6sn7 preamp with remote? Looking at Aric’s website I don’t see a remote option until you get to the Special 6sn7 level. Just wondering if it’s even an option for remote volume on the “lower” tier preamps. There’s certainly not a shortage of praise for Aric’s amps from what I can see.