Preamp Choice: Rogue 99 Magnum vs. BAT VK30

Peters

In a very rough guess I would say my listening impressions are the same as yours. Yesterday I listened to my friends BAT VK30 and VK200 combo on his B&W N803 speakers It seemed very nice, more liquid and laid back than my Rogue Magnum99 and Plinius SA100 MKIII that we had heard on the same system about 6 weeks ago. I would agree my stuff was more detailed and forward also the bass was punchier.

Again this is a preliminary impression of only a few hours listening and weeks of time between actually hearing the first system.

cheers

Phil

I find both the Rogue 99 and Bat preamps (not amps) to be very veiled. I prefer the Cary SLP98 to both of them, which seemed more transparent in auditions. It also is a piece of eye jewelry ;)

Of course all 3 colour the sound, which may or may not be your cup of tea.

KeithR

KeithR

Do have much experience comparing the SLP 98 to the Rogue 99 Magnum? What other differences did you hear? I had a chance to buy a 98 at a very good price but could not bring it home to audition and could not find much info on it :( so I went with the Rogue which has served me well.

It is a beauty I agree.

thanks

Phil

peter s

I finally heard the BAT VK30 on my system, I have not had the Rogue 99 Magnum for about 5 weeks but keeping that in mind this is what I heard.

On the plus side the BAT has a quality that is hard to put your finger on but it indeed is nice and musical, the sort of thing that makes you listen to the instruments and forget about the stereo. Also the BAT never sounded bright in the least (but was a little dull for my tastes).

Even though it has a better tone than the Rogue I still prefer the 99 as it is quite a bit more detailed, dynamic and defined and also has a bigger soundstage (one downside for me though with the Rogue was it sometimes 'glared' in the high end, I am convinced that this is my less than ideal room size can not handle the Rogues 'big' dynamics)but the real clincher for me is the bass where the Rogue trounces the BAT (which was meek and ill defined). I really missed the low end definition where you know exactly what is going on down there in the BAT, also the BAT sounded 'murky' in comparison.

Bottom line: I can see where the midrange and high end might be a draw between these 2 depending on musical taste or systems but (in my system) there was no comparison in the bass, where the Rogue is amazing (like one of the mags said, a Gila monster wrestling the woofer to the ground)