I agree with Jmcgrogan2. The linestage in my experience is the most critical piece of electronics in the system. In the past few decade I have had the privilege of trying out a mumber of Phono preamps, linestages and power amps. There were a number of phono stages and power amps that I could have lived with, but only two linestages were acceptable. The others had such strong colorations that I was unable to ignore them. Not so with the phono preamps or power amps. They all have colorations but they were not as intrusive.
I haven't heard the AE-3 but I spent a couple weeks with its big brother the Cary SLP-95, and while the Cary wasn't a bad sounding preamp it did have some strong character, I.e . Colorations. There are certainly more neutral linestages on the market.
I haven't heard the AE-3 but I spent a couple weeks with its big brother the Cary SLP-95, and while the Cary wasn't a bad sounding preamp it did have some strong character, I.e . Colorations. There are certainly more neutral linestages on the market.