Esoteric C03 preamp or Mark Levinson 326S preamp- ANY and ALL FEEDBACK / HELP PLEASE

If you read it all I have been pretty darn consistent. I mean the name of my post is asking for feedback on these 2 preamps and with in a week I just purchased one of the two? What is confusing there? I asked for help and then got help and then bought one of the preamps. Not much out of line there?

I am not on here to waste time and i am here to get help and share to the best of my ability and enjoy my hobby. If I confuse you then just move on and bother someone else and if you are interested in what i have to say then stay. I am a pretty bad writer and most of it is done on my phone while multi-tasking so can't say I blame you. Some people say they enjoy what I write so I write but if other people are like you and don't then i won't. 

I mean I am asking for feedback and trying to share the best I can but in the end I am going to make the decision i think is best for me and my system. I try to write what I feel but not saying I am good at it but you don't have to be rude or mean either. 

I just switched speakers from Rethm Saadhana V3 Speakers that were run fully by tubes to Magico S5 Speakers that are run fully by solid state and I love my new system more than anything I have ever owned but I wanted people to know I loved tubes forever before this system. i also want to make my system better than it is now is why I want a preamp.

Maybe it works maybe it doesn't but it doesn't really cost anything to try and I am just starting to share so this is sort of new to me but the hobby isn't.

I have always loved tubes and really thought they were needed for me to enjoy the music the way i wanted but with my new system I have learned that SS is even better imo and much better than I have ever owned so I tried to explain the best I could. 

I have owned many of the top brand speakers, amps, preamp and some dacs but no where near as many as other people on here. My systems is actually pretty modest compared to so many others on here but I still want to share.

I am not rich or have all this extra money either but I am smart enough that this hobby is basically a free hobby for me because I understand how to buy used and sell used so i get to try a ton of gear without really costing me anything?

Yes I need the initial outlay of cash which was mostly spent in 2008 when I was making decent money and I have flipped all that money forward to today and have lost on some but not many.

I got pretty serious in the last 5 years I would say. i wanted the best darn system I could get while learning both what I liked and what the different products where. I have read a ton and bought a lot of stuff and had a decent handle on it until I switched from tubes to ss and now sort of starting from scratch again and thought to ask for help on here and share it back. Well not from scratch but its so different than tubes and I am learning.

Over the last 5 years I have probably gone through $400,000 to $700,000 worth of retail price gear. I would say my total out of pocket cost is around $10k but maybe less. $10k over 5 years is about $2k per year which is a pretty reasonable hobby. Before I hurt my back I spent wayyy more on golf so this hobby has actually been pretty reasonable overall when looked at properly.

What do I mean? If I sold everything i own today retail myself and got as much as I could in the retail market and then look at how much money i put out of pocket I bet I am out around $10k under. Maybe add another $5k to $7k when you add in shipping charges.

I mean just look at it. Buy $35k speakers for $14,000 and use for 6 months and sell for $14,300. Not a super expensive proposition and if we are being honest then I got to use an amazing pair of $35k speakers for 6 months for free. You say switching gear is expensive and I disagree. i would say if you keep them too long they depreciate too much. Also, buy the MKI right after the MKII comes out and there is a bunch out there and they are cheaper and almost as good. I've done this so many times and you do real well this way.

If I was rich I would just go to dealers and buy new but I am not. I do ok like most people in this insane hobby do but I have bills, kids and all the stuff we all must take care of.

That first drop at the model MKII change is good for a good year and you get all or most your money back. This is how I have owned Wilson, Revel, Focal, B&W, Ascendo, Merlin, Martin Logan, Magico, Sonus Faber, Magnapan, Harbeth, Avalon, KEF, Audio Physic, Verity, Kharma, Tannoy and plenty others and the scary part is a whole bunch of different models of many of these. I think I have owned like 6 or 7 different pairs of Martin Logans, 3 - 4 Wilsons, 2 - 3 B&W. 2 pairs of Watt Puppy's 5s / 6s and them Sophia 2's and I can go on and on and it looks kind of scary when i put it in print but have pics of them all and trust me I have owned them all. I have 2 virtual systems with many pics of them and tons of other pics from other sites and i can share if you like. These are just the speakers there were many amps and preamp by BAT, CJ, ARC, CAT, AYRE, VAC, VTL, PASS, Manley, Canary, Cary, Krell, Parasound and a bunch of each. 4 - Krells. 3 - CJ's, 3 - Manleys,  DACS, Wyred 4 Sound 1 and 2, PS Audio Perfe-twave 1 then 2, Ayre QB9 then 192 then DSD then DirectStream, then Bricasti and there were a bunch of others. Not bragging at all just saying this is stuff I have owned but honestly who cares it has always been about learning and trying to figure it all out. Cables Full looms and bunch of mixes of AudioQuest, Nordost, HiDiamond, Cardas, Kubula-Sosan and many different models of many here as well etc etc.Bottom line is I have tried a bunch of gear with ittle actual total cost as everything has been turned into something else. Buy a $1500 cable and try it sell it for $1,500 and it did not cost you a whole bunch. Again kind of scary in print but these are all products I have owned and had in my system, many at same time and many at other times and actually 98% of these have been free.

The 35k speakers that you buy for $14k used yes you need to be able to put up the $14k cash so as anything in life you need to pay to play but if you take $14k out of the bank and then 6 months later you put it back $14300 not real costly other than what that money would have done in the market during that time but we all could liquidate our systems and put the money in the market and then we could not enjoy this incredible hobby and all this amazing world class music. My children have grown up with hearing the greats and enjoying them. Nothing is free but not nearly as costly as your remarks would imply. Not even close!

I have done probably $50k just this month alone. I am not bragging but you statement is incorrect and just because you don't do it or understand it that doesn't mean its hard to do. Many on here totally agree with what i am saying. I am not the only raging audiophile on audiogon but maybe the only one that takes the time to share and not sure that is even a good idea yet. 

Look at this post in the last week there was $20k of equipment I went through just with this preamp swap.

Case and point. Paid $3,100 for a $10,500 BAT got it and hated it.

Traded it and $500 cash got $10,000 Mark Levinson preamp. When bought the BAT traded $1,750 worth of cables that did not cost me $1,750 but more like $1,200 and then paid $1,350 cash plus and add in the extra $500 cash for the Levinson 326s and i now own the 326s for around $3,200. I should get all my money back for it if i don't like it.

Might even make a ham sandwich but that's not the point. When buying used and smart you can go through gear and have it not cost much if anything and I only point this out to state that just because I have got to own and try so much gear its not because I am some rich guys. Anyone of the wanted could do this if they have the initial outlay of cash. I mean you have to buy the system and i was always trying to evolve mine while learning.

I have also built a few very strong relationships with numerous good size dealers where they have done good and have I. It has to work for both. I don't buy the item they just got in but work with them on stuff they have had for a while and many times it is very good stuff. Something they took on trade they want to turn into cash and I get a nice piece and they get to move an items. I am not walking in saying gee what do you have for full retail. Not my thing. I also treat everyone i work with like gold. I go over and above so they think - that was a good guys to work with an many have come back to me over and over to buy my gear from me. i built a little cottage industry around my system but it has helped me a great deal to try new stuff.  

Please don't give me a hard time I enjoy this hobby and people like you ruin it for me. I don't bother anyone ever and if my sharing bothers others then i will just stop sharing but some of people seem to appreciate it so as long as that is the case i will share and if not i won't. Just like buying and then selling used audio gear pretty simple.  

Wow thats quite a journey in HiFi equipment.  May I ask are you seeking a particular sound or are you seeking out all different sounds by different models of HiFi gear?

Oh man. Good question. Different systems at different times I just didn’t know what i was after other than what my ears thought was the right path and read and tried to make smart decisions but we all know how that can go.

I followed my ears and my brain followed which was too bad really to a certain degree because when looking back although no regrets much of it 2/3 I now know was not matched up or set up really well but just didn’t know then.

In all honesty i had a lot of gear where my speakers for a while there - that I liked them very much but now as I know better and learned much later that they were really under driven.

Loved tubes and used tubes and now know they were not powerful enough for the Speakers I had back then but thought they sounded great.

Sort of settled for a lot flabby bass and rolled off top and bottom because extension and my geniune understanding and appreciation for it came later in the game so I wasted a lot of great gear to be honest.

They would do what I loved them to do so well / 3D / Palpable / Realness that tubes do so well with goosebumps / and was happy with much of it then where if i plugged it in now I would cringe but just didn’t know and read about stuff but thought i was hearing what they described but i got better at this hobby and at matching up gear and learned along the way about impedance and frequency limitations and my systems got better even though some at times with lesser equipment due to better matching and there was some nice Audio intellectual growth there / and there were some epiphanies along the way with that then - there - Oh man - how did I not know that - oh I see now - type of thing.

Awe should have known that before type of thing. It wasn’t like i was looking for a specific sound because I didn’t know what I didn’t know and now that i know what i didn’t know its much easier to judge but of course heinsight is always 20/20.

If i told you oh yeah i was looking for this sound or that sound well that would be disengenious using to today’s knowledge to describe yesterday’s lack there of is the best way to state it. 

Yes a lot of that great stuff was matched quite poorly when looking at it now I’m heinsight but didn’t really know that then.

Heck for quite some there for a while I used a PC via USB cable direct to DAC. We just didn’t know better. The future would teach us different but i liked better than my CD and only dabbled with vinyl later on. See i needed to sell what I had to fund something new type of thing.

Pannells and tubes.

That was what first drive the Audiophile stake into the ground for me.

Man that transparency and speed and sound stage driven by tubes did wonders for me and that sound forever forward to a certain degree would need to be part of any and every system I would have. If any add did not do this to a certain level sound wise then off with its head didle - didle. 

So that was a sound I loved and chased. I know now that the bar was pretty low for what i wanted and liked but i did have the instincts to keep pushing forward to learn more.

Many of my Martin Logan were underdriven because I just didn’t like the chalky SS sound on those but then along came the Audio Physic Virgo II and everything changed and my Audio world and what i thought i knew was forever forward altered.

That was an epiphany - I would say now that those and the First Watt F2J or J2 were so enlightening and both sent me in a tail spin firing off in other directions like no other components.

Not they they were the best but what they taught me at their times fundamentally changed my ideas of what I thought was important and left and idelable mark on this green and nieve but learning Audiophile.

The Audio Physic Virgo II signaled the death of the panel Speakers in my life and opened me up to the big old world of dynamic drivers. 

I just never had the earge to change away from pannels and tubes. I loved Martin Logan’s Spire - Summit so much - they were great speakers and did what i wanted but my idea of ideal sound was rather narrow as experience and time has taught me.

Their self driven bass drivers let me play with my tubes - (i thought) and life was good in the Audio spear.

 There were turning points or growth points along the way. I was pretty serious with my tubes and Martin Logans and for quite a while there. I loved them and was on the path of the best tubes for Martin Logans or that was what i thought anyways.

Man if I knew then what I know now. I mean CJ Premier 12’s, Decware Tori MKII then III, Manley Snappers, Primaluna Prologue 6 them 7,s. CAT Sig MK II them MK III them Manley Shrimp and Cary SLP-98 then Decware CSP2+ then another CAT because i missed it then well you get the picture. Then tried the real good NOS EL34 Mullard tubes and so on.

I can really remember not knowing and changing cables and power cords when I know now I I had not the right marching amps but i digress.

i bought those Audio Physic Virgo II as speakers for my front room. Wife at the time thought i was spending too much time in my Audio room which was true and couldn’t listen to TV over the TV so picked up these Virgos and attached the Knock off - Rawson clone Pass Labs Alph 5 and Manley Shrimp and some type 4 AudioQuest Speaker Cables and some Darwin Silver Interconnects. My source was the DAC in my Pioneer Elite SC-57 AVR. Show how dum I but it was a head of its time with a Network over Ethernet so made other room possible via JRiver and bam - smack my whole Audio world was turned upside down. This sound - what is that. It was not as transparent or quick but man it did something that the pannels could never do. There was this realness and this image that was so ventriloquist like that I was amazed. Needless to say i sold my Martin Logans and i was on a mission. This new sound - this new idea - i must see where this leads me and this what started a dizzying few years of rifleing through Speakers and Amps and pres. I could go on and on but wanted to give you an idea of where I was and why is all. 

Thank you for your question because it lets me think about the process in a way i normally would not have :) 

I enjoy reading about your Audio journey. That is quite a bit of gear that you have had in your system(s) over the years. The largest margin of this hobby is auditioning the gear, even better to demo it in your home, to rule out the pieces/brands not suitable to your ears. Keep auditioning and writing.
Happy Listening!