Audio Research Ref 3 VS Mark Levinson 38s

minorl , that was good reading from you , yes the 380s was an upgrade from the 38s. I was considering at one time upgrading my 38s to the 380s but i thought it might be somewhat kinda close in comparison to spend the extra $$$$. That is why i was thinking of the ARC Ref 3. 

I've owned both of those preamps, though not at the same time. I had the 38S for about a month, around 15 years ago. Then I spent about 3 years with the ARC Ref 3, and sold it about 8 years ago.

In my system, to my ears, there was no contest at all. I much preferred the ARC Ref 3, more resolution, more musical, more natural.

Again, that is just my opinion, and I have been known to prefer a tube preamp. Very few SS preamps have sounded natural to me, with Klyne the possible exception.

The 38S stood out to me as a very HiFi sounding unit. It checked many boxes, good bass, good highs, but it never sounded relaxed or natural to me. Could have been system synergy, or whatnot, I can't really recall what else was in my rig back 15 years ago, but I did turn around and resold it rather quickly, and the guy who bought it really liked it, so whatever. That's why they make so many flavors.

That's just my $0.02.

The REF 3 with new tubes is very hard to beat and for the money, impossible to beat.

It is quite good, but I've heard better for less. I prefer the ARC over the 38S as well.

i’d consisider the ml 326s . imo it is much superior to the two units in question and can be purchased used for a good price. i had both back to back and thought the 326s much superior.,just an opinion though. 

I agree with 4425.  I’ve spent a lot of time with the REF3 and while it’s a great unit I prefer my 326s for a variety of reasons.