World's best Pre-amp for $10K and above?


Looking for the HOLY GRAIL in Audio? Here it is. I'm in my early sixties and retiring to my final system, which I was going to purchase during the past twelve months and decided to put on the brakes, and investigate whats out there as the most advanced engineered high end audio products for the money in the market place. As far as I'm concerned, the two top engineers in the world for the best Amp and Preamp at low prices are Bent Holter with Hegel Audio in Norway and Roger Sanders with Sanders Sound in Colorado. Why? The Hegel P-30 Pre-amp is a game changer, and will easily compete with Pre-amps at $30K and above. The FM Acoustics 268 Preamp that retails for $107K, uses a technology thats called "feedforward" instead of feedback.
Amps and Pre-amps since the early 80's have all used either global feedback, zero feedback or local feedback to filter out noise and lower distortion by sending and filtering the feedback current to filter capacitors or or an extra filter transformer. A small amount of voltage feedback occurs at the output stage in amps and preamps which goes back into the parts and boards causing noise and distortion which smears the quality of the music.The best Preamps in the world all have S/N noise ratios at 125 db's or above. The Hegel P-30 Preamp uses the same feedforward technology as FM Acoustics but is a more current design that Bent Holter calls "Sound Engine" patented technology that eliminates feedback which is why the P-30 Preamp has a S/N ratio of 132 db's, which has never been accomplished in high end audio with a Preamp costing $10K or below. The same applies to Roger Sanders Magtech amplifier which uses a patented linear voltage regulator that controls and regulates voltage with no excess voltage going back into the amp causing heat and distortion problems. The amp puts out 900 watts into 4ohms. Krell makes a pair of mono blocs that also use a similar voltage regulator. The amps are $100K a pair. HERES THE PERFECT SOLID STATE SYSTEM. A Hegel P-30 Preamp. A Sanders Magtech amp, A pair of Aerial Acoustics 7T speakers. The worlds finest SACD player, the Playback Designs MPS-5, designed by Andreas Koch, who invented SACD technology when he worked for Sony. He built the worlds first outboard DAC in 1982 and is legend in digital engineering. The MPS-5 is the most analog sounding player on the market which costs $17K. The Hegel P-30 is only $7500.00 and the Magtech amp is only $5K. The Aerials are $10K. Buy the solid core cables from Morrow Audio. They are low capacitance cables which matches up perfectly with these components. This combination sounds like the very best tube and solid state gear on the market. The whole system will cost about $42K but will sound as good as any system costing $200K. All of these products are game changers. If you want better looking cabinets and faceplates, then blow your money, but you will not get better performance for what this system has to offer. It is the HOLY GRAIL you are searching for and there is no better combination for the total cost of the system.
audiozen
I did not audition the Hegel H-300 as I was not interested in an integrated but I could have. Neither of the Hegel preamps are 10K and above in price so they are not in line with the title of this thread. However their performance is. I previously owned a Spectral DMC 30 SL preamp in my system which I paid close to $9,600 for and I prefer the Hegel.

The Spectral DMC 30 SS series 2 preamp was auditioned in my system awhile ago and I liked it. It is over $10,000. I can not comment on it versus the Hegel as they were not here at the same time.

If comments in this thread should be restricted to preamps that retail $10,000 or above I respect that.

I only wanted to comment on a comment that was made that generated some interest. I don't post often but usually do only if I have direct experience with a mentioned product. This direct experience may be of interest to some readers.


In my case I would have to make the purchase blind .So I decided to strike Hegel from my list. There are many good choices in that range which are well made and retain decent resale value. I never even heard of Hegel till a few weeks ago so I think it may be difficult to sell on the used market and therefore one may have difficulty getting even 50% of the original price.
If I ever get a chance to audition one perhaps I will change my mind.
Not sure where my response went I left last night. Maybe it will show up.
In response to your question I did not audition the H-300 as I was not interested in an integrated. My focus was on preamps. My posting on this thread was only in response to a comment already made not to hijack the thread into another area.

Neither Hegel sells for $10k. That is true. However the sound qualifies based on my experiences. I have owned in my system a Spectral DMC-30SL which retailed around $8500 or so based on my memory. I prefer the Hegel. I have also heard the Spectral DMC 30SS series 2 in my system and liked it but not at the same time as the Hegel so I cannot comment on this . This Spectral retails at $10,000. The closer performer to this would be the P30 which retails at $7,500. The P20 is not far behind at $2,800. A bargain.
Has anyone compared the Hegel P20 or Hegel P30 to the Sanders Audio preamp(includes phono)? I am researching currently to get another solid state preamp.