Thoughts on the Supratek Chardonnay

I know of a few Supratek's which have needed repairs - including my first Chardonnay - several years ago. In my case, Mick covered the costs to repair locally. My Cortese has been flawless.

Sound wise, it totally depends on the tubes you use. The Supratek can go from annoyingly sterile to deep-dark and overly lush. But regardless of tonal balance, the Supratek remains lively and overall is a "pretty" sounding preamp - which tends to make the rest of your system sound better.

Not-so-good CD players sound better - really good CD players sound good - but not as good as I imagine they could if the Supratek was more transparent - having less character.

I think you'd prefer the Supratek to the ARC.

Ecclectique, I said what I said as a result of the question asked. Unlike yours and BWhite's posted elsewhere, mine is quite measured I thought.

Arkio, I agree, I think it is a bargain at $3000 compared to others I've heard.

I think Bwhite's assessment is right on the money. Once you find a combination of tubes that suits your system it is a piece you can easily live with. Veiled is way too strong a word to describe it, but it tends to go in that direction.

Tbg - I thought your post was okay. You are correct, early versions of the Supratek had issues - particularly cold solder joints. My first and second Chardonnay's came damaged (in shipping) from the factory. Piano Black with a nice huge scratch. Sweet! Lots of weird buzzing, humming issues. Gain was weird - high gain was too high and low gain was too low. I think Mick has done a fantastic job of improving on his manufacturing techniques (care and precision) and it shows in the reliability of the current product line.

Now... we only need to improve transparency.

Bwhite,

As you and I discussed, the stock volume pot is one of the problems with transparency in the Chardonnay. BTW, what does the Cortese use for volume control?

I don't know why Mick insist on using the stock Alps pot (other than cost). The DACT is such an improvement it is silly.

I am considering upgrading to the Cabernet. If I do, I will insist on a DACT volume control. (Maybe the new digital volume control instead....?)