bat rex vs cary slp 05!!!

Firstly, if you’re comparing the Bat Rex II vs the Cary SLP-05, bare in mind they are not really comparable in design or price. Yes they are both two-chassis preamps, but the BAT is $25k & is a full on 18 tube balanced preamp with a multi-regulated power supply that uses triodes, whilst the Cary is $9k and uses 8 6SN7 tubes + a rectifier. My friend has the Bat Rex preamp in his $300k system at the moment with his Vitus SM-011 mono’s & Marten Coltrane 3 speakers. He had this to say about it.. " I’ve got the BAT preamp and stereo amp here at the moment. The preamp connected to the vitus is giving me some of the best music I’ve had for a while. Bravo!"

As far as listening impressions go, i’ve had limited exposure listening to both marques. I heard the Cary in an all-Cary setup which sounded soft, warm & offered plenty of dimensionality. The BAT will still give you tube virtues, but with greater drive and insight into the music. With its more comprehensive balanced design, unsurprisingly it has lower output impedance (200 Ohms) vs the Cary (400 Ohms). Another advantage of using 18 tubes and a more multi-regulated power supply is lower noise. The BAT measures 0.005% THD @2v vs Cary which has 0.03 % THD.

With that said, if you had $25k to spend on a preamp, I would be advising you to also audition the Vitus SIA-025 & Absolare Passion integrated amps!

You are a very fortunate soul- melbguy1-

you and your friend has a phenomenal system(s) to be sure.
I must ask- which brands of Cabling are you guys using?

Happy Listening!

Cheers Jafant. I have another friend with a $500kAUD system! His room is phenomenal. I’m currently using Jorma Prime xlr’s, Jorma Prime pc’s re-terminated with cryo’d Oyaide M1/F1 connectors, Jorma Statement sc’s & one Jorma Unity pc for my Oppo re-terminated with Oyaide P-004/C-004 connectors. I’m planning to add Unity xlr’s when I upgrade my current Oppo 103 to the future 4K replacement for the Oppo105. For now, my Siltech 330i rca’s are fine.

Jorma sounds natural, well balanced, smooth, flowing, harmonically rich & a touch warm (Unity, Prime) to neutral (Origo, Statement). I don’t have experience with the lower models. But I know Jorma No 2 was recently updated.

My friend was using Siltech Double & Triple Crown cables and wanted more musicality, so I convinced him to get Jorma Prime & Statement cables. After inserting Jorma, he loves the sound again. He said they’re giving him smoother midrange and better top to bottom coherence. In my opinion, Jorma was a no brainer in his system as the Coltranes are internally wired with Jorma.

Yes, Jorma is on  my must-demo list.