Pre-amps for Leben CS-600x
Hi All,
I’ve been driving my Devore O96s with a Leben CS-600x, and it been good. Ok a lark I ordered a Bottlehead 300b preamp and amp. I received the preamp first and ran that through the Leben. It was revelatory. The sound was open, imaging was better, and it had an immersive quality it didn’t have before. I received the amp and it pales in comparison to the Bottlehead Leben combo.
This has raised the question about what an every better preamp could do. Do you have any suggestions for a preamp that might make the Leben even more magical?
Thank you!
@kasperbergholt 2 great suggestions. I’ll look at the Leben preamps. And I’ll do some reading about Yamamoto. What do you like about that maker? I have not checked to see about the tone and balance functions when in preamp mode. I’ll check in the next couple of days and report back. |
I don't believe you would be disappointed with this preamp, excellent workmanship with great sound: https://www.coincidentspeaker.com/preamps.html |
@markimiller - good question. Came across Yamamoto when doing research on a new DAC and their design struck med a beautifully minimalistic with a focus on letting specific types of tubes do what they do best. But I’ve no listening experience with them - so just fascination & curiosity + some very positive reviews. I have the CS-600 with different tubes in the driver stage (6CS7s). I just tried connecting a high-output DAC to the preamp in. The input does not seem to bypass the boost function and the balance contro, so I’m doubt as to which degree the pre amp mode makes the amplifier function as a (pure) power amplifier. If the driver stage is not bypassed, there might not be much to gain by running it with a separate preamplifier. But I might be missing something here. Theoretically, adding a preamplifier might worsen the sound as the signal chain gets longer both in terms of through the amplifier circuits and the extra interconnect. Some people report great results running the input signal through the tape in instead of one of the line level-ins. This, however, does not seem to bypass parts of the driver stage either though. |
@lak thank you for another wonderful suggestion. Can’t believe they weren’t on my radar. @kasperbergholt i checked and the balance control and boost are active in preamp in mode. I can’t speak to how the Leben is built, but I do know that overall it sounds better with the bottle head than with its own preamp section (alone ?). Why would Leben offer it if it would only diminish the sound? |
I'm having some difficulty figuring out how to quote comments, so "I can’t speak to how the Leben is built, but I do know that overall it sounds better with the bottle head than with its own preamp section (alone ?). Why would Leben offer it if it would only diminish the sound?" |
