Pre amps cost vs. value ... what I discovered last month.

BTW, my pre-amp clicks for every step up in volume as well... doesn’t bother me a bit since the sound is spectacular (VTL 6.5). 

Appreciate the sane and thoughtful replies. I will go through them later but just a quick sample. Anyone or group who wants to bring over a balanced (XLR) pre amp is welcome to, just have to find the right day. I can’t go out of the DA for gain as I need a router to switch between MIX and MASTER and do volume offsets. Loud records are from fear, the human disease on the other end of love, there is no remedy for fear except for each person, in each moment. Modern records can sound good and I would suggest some of mine as examples of low dynamics that has punch. DR sounds old, bottom line, the music sounds dated. Unless that sound helps the artist to connect, it’s not going to happen. I’ve been playing with the much worshiped and I think not so great early release Steely Dan from 16 bit CDs and a little MORE compression, plus some harmonics from the chain can actually help those sound more live and real, less perfected and cold. Early CD mastering was lame. The Krell Illusion sounds like it’s worth a look, as are the others mentioned earlier like the Linear Tube Audio and Ayre. Yes most "pro" gear is junk. Pro is a sales term not a category. As far as synergy, yes that’s everything ... I would never want to use all one company for anything, the design / philosophical artifacts just pile up on top of each other. That’s not how we work in production generally speaking. Some mastering studios maybe but no one I respect. The cocktail of artifacts creates the palate and that is what we do, bring a palate to the table, a perspective, even in mastering. As far as "flat" this and "flat" that I am 100% opposed to such nonsense on 2 basic levels. 1. nothing is truly flat or truly neutral, there are many flavors of vanilla, there is no straight wire with gain, not even in a cable or a capacitor. 2. the goal of music is CONNECTION and ELEVATION of humans, not PERFECTION. We are not doing a science project here. The person engineering matters, we cannot be invisible and shouldn’t try. Stereo sound is not the live event, no matter what we do. Wrong goal. Quite the opposite from being invisible as engineers we should do what we were born to do, create, even in mastering. I don’t work from perfectionism or fear. I work from musicality toward physical/emotional/intellectual connection and elevation of the listener. That is what makes fans and money. Immediate impact and a timeless result is my phrase for what I do.I make an Invitation to connect... that completes the vision of the production team and removes the unhelpful energy from the offering. People want to love music, and they want to hate on it. My aim is to open the door to real listening.

brian

As a sound engineer you are probably familiar with the Bricasti M7 reverb. Bricasti has gotten in to hifi in a big way with their M1 DAC which is remarkable. They now have a preamplifier, the M12. You should be able to talk to Damon, he is on the west coast regarding auditioning one. 

Ah, a discussion close to my heart!

Couple things: firstly, I "hate" preamps. They go against all my audiophile religious sensibilities. I want transparency, detail, fidelity. Adding a component in between that really does nothing...yadda yadda. BUT, I also know it's needed. In the real world, maybe half of the stuff I have ever used doesn't benefit, or work better, going "passive". 

But the other thing, I believe as listeners, we get used to and accept coloration in components we have had years with or love for years. We just listen past it, listen through. Even a less resolving or capable component or system, if we can still hear differences swapping other components, we can still hear the more transparent components or more detail and such.

Brian, welcome. Very insightful, and appreciated from your point of view. I have been at this audio thing for almost 50 years, and was in the consumer audio industry ( NYC ). I knew many musicians, and spent some time in studios. Most of the equipment back then was analog ( really liked the Allen and Heath units, and some Yamahas ). Never saw tube amps in the studios to drive the monitors. Recently, I decided to modify an 80 wpc Yamaha pro amp ( of which I have several pro amps ), and since it has input level controls ( as all pro amps do ), I decided, for the 1st time ever, to go straight from my dac to the amplifier. Why haven’t I ever done this before ? Well, spending mucho dollars on preamps, and modifying many, I just assumed I needed the preamp. Well, to my surprise, I like what I am hearing. On certain discs, such as the Bob James " Cool ", " The Sheffield Drum Record ", M.D. " Kind of Blue " , and so many other wonderfully mastered pieces of music, I am hearing, so much more " life " to the performers, their instuments, their voices, and the 3 dimensional illusion of the space they are in. Even on Jethro Tull " Aqualung ", which imo is very compressed, I can hear more of everything. I have never been good with tubes ( rather than saying tubes have never been good to me), because I favored non coloration, dynamics, speed and detail, which I always favored good ss. I know the attributes of tubes, and owning horns, I have had many pieces in and out. But the noise levels, microphonics, colorations, and the lack of prat ( pace, rhythm and tempo ( with all the tube products " I " have owned and tried ), did not satisfy me. So, ow I am looking for a good passive unit, with multiple inputs, as there are many amplifiers in my stable without input level controls. Just my 2 cents. Enjoy ! MrD.