Floored by the Sound Quality of TEO Liquid Pre

I don't know Douglas, I was reading part of your review and saw the part about you moving the piece to a different shelf and then it sounded tighter and much better. I don't know if I could tolerate dealing with a piece that finicky?? Plus it's very expensive as are the Liquid cables. Next thing you know you'll need to buy an optional refrigeration module to keep the rig at just the right temperature.

And when it breaks (leaks) does one call an electrical tech... or a plumber! Also, is that six 9's pure tin particles they put in the mix with the Gallium and whatever else is in there???

I am a big fan of passive Pre amps, I recently borrowed 3 and did a mini shootout, just on my own, not to scientific I know. The units were, a Prometheus Reference, Audio music and Music First Audio Baby Reference. The latter stood out as being exceptional. Dynamic, with excellent base, said to be a failing with passives, neutral, very transparent and detailed. I had previously compared it with an Audio Research Ref 3 and preferred the passive, but it was very close.

I note that you think the Teo is a significant improvement on the MFA Baby Reference, so it must be very good indeed. Unfortunately, without balanced outputs, it is no use to me, as my ARC Ref 75 only takes XLR inputs.

Plato, yours is the standard response, regarding worry over the liquid. The liquid cables have been around a while, so I'm not terribly worried. It is a very simple design relatively speaking, so I think the odds of an active preamp breaking is higher.

Speaking about refrigeration, have you ever had a Cryogenically treated cable? I don't spend too much time worrying about Cryo of audio products; the wire either is superior or not. The real question to answer would be what the effect might be on the sound if the liquid cable was frozen! But, I'm not conducting that test, not the least reason of which would be potential for condensation - not a good thing around audio gear. :)

As regards the benefit of the shelving, I don't believe you understand. The Liquid Pre is so vastly superior to whatever active preamps I have used, that even if I placed it on a not so perfect surface it handily outstripped the performance of the others. It's not a matter of the Liquid Pre needing a perfect surface to sound fantastic, but an added advantage. When a product is, say a perceived 50% better than another, but you can gain an additional 2% performance, why not?

Your sarcasm isn't very friendly. :(

David12, as a less favored option, get a pair of XLR to RCA adapters, such as the ones from Cardas. It's a poor solution sonically, but a lot cheaper than buying a pricier amp. My experience is that adapters kill much of the quality of the sound, but I wouldn't be surprised at all for the Liquid Pre to be superior, even with adapters. At least if you compared the others using the adapters you would know with relative certainty which was better.

I would be quite easy to get far better results with the Liquid Pre and single ended amplification, even in some cases with less expensive single ended amps, than any number of balanced active pre/amp combos. Balanced is not the holy grail; it's a good way to go, but even without the Liquid Pre I can make systems with single ended components which can best balanced amplification. But with the Liquid Pre I'm having no thoughts at all about missing XLR connections. I used to be quite concerned about such things, and now know from lots of experience building systems that it's not nearly as critical as the inherent quality of the components being used.

If TEO Audio made a balanced version, you can bet I would use it. But since they don't, and the Liquid Pre is so superior, that's the route I'm going. When I use this preamp and get vastly superior results to any balanced config. I have ever set up, then I'm not going to grouse about not having XLR. So, theoretically, what if next year I find a preamp that is XLR only and wipes the floor with the Liqud Pre? Then I guess I'm back to XLR! I don't anticipate that happening, at least with components at a price in the orbit of the Liquid Pre. But I am not foolish enough to say it could not happen. :)

The toe liquid cables are definitely an interesting technology. Whether they can compete with the newer magnetic conduction technology cables from High Fidelity Cables is another story. Hopefully someone, hint, hint, will get around to doing a review of both Teo and High Fidelity.

David12, as a less favored option, get a pair of XLR to RCA adapters, such as the ones from Cardas.

ARC Reference amps require a true balance preamp so don't think XLR to RCA adapters will work.