Hornshoppe "the Truth" preamp - any opinions?

Congratulations Tom on finding a pre-amp that makes a significant improvement in your listening pleasure.

It's a little surprising that the "Truth" has not (I'm guessing) found it's way into even more audiophile's homes. Is it the stock ugly box? The "it can't be that good for that price" relatively mid-fi cost? The fact it has 0 gain? The lack of tubes? Ed's thick southern accent?

It looks to be a simple innovative design, which is a plus in my book. This product IMHO is probably competitive with just about anything available regardless of price. A  lot of our kind would benefit greatly by going for a test spin with it.

   LP

 

I can’t obviously speak for others as why a product so good is overlooked but in my opinion the Truth sort of falls in a niche that is adamantly debated among the audio fans. You can see that every time a question/thread about passive and active preamps is started. Perhaps not many people try the Truth first as a passive and then decide to move to an active. Also, with the advent of excellent digital sources with volume control and gradual absence of analog source devices, many choose to go direct to the amplifier. I personally would love to try it at some point but at the moment I’m enjoying the “colored” sound I get from my tube preamp. Maybe many folks actually enjoy what an active preamp adds to the sound albeit compromising the accuracy or purity of a device such as the Truth. My 2 cents FWIW.

Thanks guys, I don't know what's inside the Truth that makes it so special but Ed definitely did something right!

I think all of the reasons you mentioned LP lend to the Truth not being more commonly used. I truly believe that if Ed put it in a nice looking chassis and tripled the price it would sell better. Thankfully he doesn't!

As a clarification the Truth is not a passive preamp. It's a no gain active preamp. I don't know what the distinction is but Ed is adamant about it NOT being passive. 

Like everything in audio it's all about synergy and compatibility. I loved my Aric tube linestage, so I completely understand where kalali is coming from but the Truth brought the music to life. Maybe I needed a less colored preamp for my 300B SET to sound it's best to me. And maybe the Truth wouldn't sound as well with a more analytical amp. That's what's great, and so confounding, about this hobby......there are countless good choices to suit our listening needs. 

"There are countless good choices to suit our listening needs" Well said Tom and I agree. IMO there are numerous excellent quality audio components available to satisfy a broad spectrum of taste. The problem is you will never hear them all.

The Truth is active, buffered (exceptionally simple transitor output devices) requires a power cord, has a power supply but is 0 gain. It uses light to control volume, an extraordinarily simple circuit component. This is I’m certain why it is said to sound so good. I believe that for some audiophiles its low (relatively speaking) price works against it rather than viewing it as an asset. I don’t doubt its excellence and look forward to hearing Tom’s Truth Line stage.
Charles

"...I loved my Aric tube linestage, so I completely understand where kalali is coming from..."

Coincidentally I also have an Aric Audio preamp. I think your assertion of having the Truth paired with a 300B SET amp makes sense as the combination would be more neutral in contrast with having an all tube audio chain.