My pleasure Tbg!
Yes I am located in Frankfurt, Germany (btw, I noticed Audiogon have updated the country information for most 'Goners lately, just click on the moniker). So, please bear that in mind when I comment on price/quality relation. It's the "way of the world" I guess, but I notice some distributors take healthy margins and that works in both directions across the big pond.
In spite of such caution, I will commence by saying that to me the acquisition of the Preos was a no-brainer. I still bought the former unbalanced-only generation back in 2007 (potential buyers, no worry these went off the market around that time). Costly in absolute terms, I consider this some of the best value I ever went for. Why? Because I have both an analog and a digital rig and this machine was easily one of the references in BOTH disciplines! To me, the synergy with the Contriva was of course another argument, but also combined with other gear the Preos holds its status. Until the advent of the Presencio the Preos was simply the best I had had the opportunity to hear. I should add that the phono stage of the Tidal preamps is not in any way comparable with the add-ons, optional or not, that some of the well-known brands offer. People at Tidal are very "analog-minded" and the preamp was primarily developed with that goal. In another thread I have therefore not hesitated to call this the best MC phono-amp with volume control. Then again, in accordance with the reigning philosophy, when it came to building the line stage that had to be superior as well, of course, and so, here comes Preos. I can tick the boxes that leap to one's mind when trying to describe the sound: true to life tone and timbre of voices and instruments throughout all frequencies, micro detail but never detached from the overall flow (yeah I know, my own personal buzz-word), immediate dynamic response no matter how brutally huge the dynamics may be, fastness, clarity, ... or just make one observation: Together with a superior amp Preos will show you entirely how good a recording is, whether the artist's passion and vibrancy were catched, and what your source and speakers are able to reproduce.
Enter Presencio. This is stellar. Period. Sadly, it is also stellarly priced. Then again, I found out it is - take a deep breath - reasonably priced. Lothar, Tidal's "amp-guy", told me he had been experimenting and came up with something that even in its raw form left everyone with the desire to explore the outer limit of The Possible. However the financial outlay for building this machine proved to become so huge, they had to find people willing to commit more or less in advance they'd go for it (a soon-to-be Tidalist yourself, it will not surprise you they succeeded in doing that, luckily).
I had the pleasure of witnessing the completion of the first machine in Lothar's "laboratory" and heard it the first time in his system next to the Preos. Fellow Mere Mortals, the Preos remains one of the greatest preamps out there. Presencio is otherworldly, or no, that is a wrong label, Presencio is actually the one that brings you nearest to the real world of real music.
