2. amps-preamps
  3. 129018-70277

Source Mod or Preamp?

 Hey guys,
   Was curious what people thought between two upgrade choices I was considering. Due to fixed disability and limited funds, I can only choose to save for one. I want to add some tubes into the mix, so I was looking at an Oppo Modwright Truth vs. say SP14 preamp. With the side upgrades, both should be around the same price.

   My question for people familiar with these two pieces is which one do you think would be a "better" bang for the money if you could only choose one? A tube mod Oppo I read is nice and can still feed directly into my amp. Or will running the stock Oppo though a nice tube preamp be the way to go?
 
  My equipment is very simple, so no need for many preamp connections (no TT, etc.) only an Oppo run directly into a First Watt J2, then to Spatial Audio M4s. I think adding a few tubes into the chain maybe nice, just not sure which I should save for, I have never heard either. Thanks in advance.
cisgo
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
my choice has been to get a used ARC pre-amp

DACs evolve at a rapid rate but a good pre-amp will last years before a really significant upgrade in SQ comes along, so will be very cost effective to do the DAC every couple or few years

there is a new USB DAC out now that claims to have solved the galvanic isolation problem (iFI IIRC) and it is quite cheap

then there is your source material - even w/o going past the redbook std. there are huge improvements to be made from re-releases of any CDs you have from the early to mid-1980s


akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,324 posts
 
+1 to the post by AUXINPUT

Your source (and your resulting audio performance) can be significantly upgraded with a quality build upgraded  2-channel digital unit.

I had the very top end CAMBRIDGE Bluray player that shared the same motherboard as the OPPO. It was fine for HT but it was handily bested for 2-channel audio performance by my discrete high-end build CDP/DAC. The improvement was not subtle.
mechans
3,048 posts
 

I think you are safer with a tubed preamp. I have a lot of experience with tubes and they are very good at adding dimension to your sound.  They will be very clean sounding and  not that's right not   syrupy slow and warm, using current production tubes.  If you want to add a hint of warmth there are some tubes that may help with that as well. 

Modded anything is harder to sell since there are fewer people familiar with the mods and are wanting to buy a specific component.  So if fluidity is important to you extensive mods are not a good choice.  The cost will likely exceed some of the less expensive tubed pre amp units.

ARC has a particular presentation that I think you should be familiar with before buying if you don't know how they sound already.   I own both an old ARC SP6B (modded) and a tubed pre, a simple AE-3 (an offshoot of Cary).  I love that little pre.

More to discover