Rogue 99 pre vs Kora Eclipse pre

i have never heard the kora, but i owned a magnum version of the 99 a year ago, when i was in preamp-upgrade-mode. i'd definitely get the kora! ;~)

in fairness, the rogue may have fared better if i had shorter interconnects from the pre to my outboard active x-over, or if my x-over's input impedence were higher than 25kohms. serious impedence mismatching took place here... the rogue's output impedence has to be at least 2kohms, not the 100 ohms as stated...

doug s.

i can only comment on the rogue. i have the 99 magnum and have no desire to upgrade. from what i've heard, balanced matters in two instances. one, most of your system is balanced by design and you want to reap the benefits of an all balanced synergy (can't say i've experienced this). two, you need to have really long runs of cable. rogue seems to have taken the kis approach, keep it simple, and by virtue of this, been able to deliver an incredible product to the market place at its price point. it is a remarkable preamp and worth every nickel imo. it should slay most of its competttion at the $2k point. i auditioned a bat vk3i and vk5i, an arc ls16 and ls25 and a hovland 100. the hovland was amazing, won't go into needless detail, but at $4k it better be. the bat and arc preamps faded against the rogue, especially when price entered into the equation for me. the arc seemed flat and sterile, non involving, while i simply didn't need the balanced design of bat.
i'm not bashing balanced design, but i've never felt the need to run balanced myself. i think the single endedness of the rogue is more than pleasant.
hope this helps
btw, a 99 magnum is up on audiogon today for $1800
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