ARC Ref 5se inferior to LS28?

randy-11 , When Mercedes came here in late 50's they couldn't give them away, sold them as same price as in Germany. Only G.I's knew them and that as German taxis .

In sixties came back and sold them for over twice German price and the rest is history . Of course we all know Consumer Reports is a liberal rag who lies about how unreliable they are .

schubert04-05-2017 5:28pm

A pretty smart scientist said," what you can measure doesn't matter, what matters you can't measure' .
Science is as much a religion as religion is

Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. You're not quoting a famous scientist; you're quoting Robert McNamara, a businessman. Worse, your "quote" is a paraphrased misquote of what he said, which ended with: " The fourth step is to say that what can't be easily measured really doesn't exist. This is suicide."

To suggest that religion is as inherently valid as science is absurd. Scientific facts can be repeated. Religion is based on faith.

But we are way OT here and, as you already stated:

You need not take me seriously

No, I am quoting William Cameron, a famous social scientist .
Science is based on faith as well and that is obvious .
One easy read is ,"How Science Mimics Faith " 
Tory Rodriguez 
Scientific American
March 1, 2014

Gents and ladies - just answer the question please. 
The ref5se is much much better than an LS27 based on auditioning both in
my system. So it is possible that an LS28 is closer but it is highly unlikely that it is equal or better. 

Not sure that logic necessarily follows.  5Se was introduced in 2011 - plenty of time for improvements to be made.  But the question remains unaddressed.  Does anyone have any experience comparing the two preamps?  Anyone from Audio Research able to shed some light on the question?

LarryRS