Bent Audio Autoformer vs Tube Pre

Of course. I'm just sayin' though. I wouldn't expect him to like anything else publicly. Right?

You will notice that I am careful not to name names unless somebody calls me out. Its really that simple.

But at the same time, the simple fact is that direct-coupling can perform better than a coupling cap or a transformer. This is not something that I made up, its been well-known for decades. The trick is doing it.

There are very talented designers and builders who for various reasons choose a particular coupling solution.If they decided to comment on this site,each would give a convincing explanation of why 'they do what they do'.All would seem valid,that`s why listening is the determining factor.There`ll be advantages and some degree of compromise with any method chosen,
Regards,

I agree completely.

I think it would be interesting if we had more interaction from more manufacturers.

Just for the record for those who could not gather it from my previous post Atma-Sphere is building the custom preamp I mentioned. While I firmly believe in the benefits of a passive preamp, one of my amps is an Atma-Sphere S-30 and after many conversations with Ralph decided that it would be worth hearing the preamp for both technical and synergistic reasons. I am moving from digital to a completely analog front end with turntable and reel tape deck, the latter taking the output directly from the tape head. Given the phono catridge is inherently balanced as is the tape deck I needed a solution that could handle the balanced designs of my sources. The convenience of getting this in a one box preamp was also influential in my decision. So for the first time in a while I will have an active circuit in my preamp. I look forward to the comparison.