I wanted to share that I received my VAC pre. a few days ago, the fit and finish is top notch (I got mine in silver/chrome combo including a nice simple metal remote, not plastic like allot of others.
I have owned along with being very fortunate to have had many world class pre's in my set-ups over the years, ARC, MBL, VTL, JRD, DARTZEEL, BAT, to name a few and presently own a ARC REF3 and the VAC.
I will say in my own experience and placing this specific VAC pre-amp straight out of the box into my system had me saying "this is really nice, I am hearing huge positive sonics going on never mind the stage presence right across the entire spectrum and know from past experience that it will only continue during break-in process, this is a welcomed surprise and very nice!" This has never happened before, my last pre that I had for audition was the new ARC REF5 and in my set-up it did not offer such, it was well broken-in.
The VAC has now been in my set-up for a few days and on 24/7, all I can say is this sure is a whole new world and the differences are all very positive across the board, my MBL's are very happy!
I'll comment more when I have put some hours in.
Current set-up;
MBL 101E speakers VAC pre as above mentioned with phono Bryston 28 Squared mono blocks Torus RM20, one for each mono block MBL 1621a transport ACCUSTIC ARTS HYBRID TUBE DAC w/different tubes TW RAVEN ONE PHONO Graham Phantom MKII arm Dynavector XV-1s cart
Cables; Stealth through out, I have tried allot of others and I'm very happy with this product line, I find myself no longer looking I'm off the mari-go-round
-Two runs of Dream cables to the speakers for true bi-wire -Indra's with latest connectors, XLR's through out -Dream power cables through out -Hyperphono for arm connection -Sextet AES with latest XLR connectors
I have only been using my REDBOOK CD so far, I also have a Audia Flight One phono that I'll be able to compare to the one built-in the VAC pre. and have a couple others to compare but this will be farther in the fall time and I'm looking forward to it.
I recommend you roll some choice NOS tubes after the unit burns-in for 400 hours. With the right tubes, you can probably get another 30-40% improvement in performance for less than 10% the unit's price.
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