EMM DCC2 vs Hi End Preamps

I guess what this all means is that each person has his own preference and, thus, his own opinion. Unlike Gladstone, I'm not a "tube" guy, and found the clarity and resolution of the DCC2 a real revelation. I never found it edgy or fatiguing, just eminently revealing. As I said above, one person's "body" is another person's coloration. Just personal preference. Also,I agree with Mike L. After having heard the DarTZeel preamp at CES, I suspect that it will do the tube "thing" as well or better than the best tubes, without the colorations I hear in most tube gear. Just have to wait and see, I guess.

Hooper--must respectfully dissent again. The clarity and resolution of DCC2 is very good, but I found that I got more of it with the Messenger. But I did not like what other tube preamps did to signal, including CAT Ultimate, which I found harsh and unrelenting.

Gladstone:

I respect your defense of the Messenger. Never having heard it, I certainly can't, and won't, comment on it. I have heard other tubed units on par (from what I've been told) with the Messenger, though, and IMO the DCC2 delivered more of what I liked than they did. I'd like to hear the Messenger one day, though.

While the CAT might sound a little unrefined with its readily available stock tubes, "harsh and unrelenting" might well be interpretated as "neutral and revealing" depending on one's system context. In this way the CAT is really not dissimilar to the DCC2...only that it adds a bit of "thereness" lacking with the EMM as a preamp. As Mihalis has stated that he is a tube enthusiast, I am pretty certain that he would be more satisfied with a tube preamp in the chain.

Gladstone - WHere di you buy your Messenger?