Supratek or Don Sachs - which way to go?

@waltersalas I did not buy his amplifier. I am curious, but I ended up building my own First Watt F4 (25W class A, zero negative feedback). Since upgrading from Coincident Super Eclipse IIIs to Pure Reference Extremes, I’ve been trying to better my Coincident Frankenstein SET mono-blocks because the PREs need more power to shine (primarily in bass).

I’ve tried a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400, Pass Labs XA25, and Atma-sphere M60s. In all cases, the Franks won out despite the improved bass performance. Eventually I decided to build an F4 to supplement my Franks as a booster amp on the PREs’ bass cabs. The F4 has no voltage gain and only provides current to the input signal. Surprisingly -- on these speakers -- the F4 was actually the best of all by itself. It has almost all of the inner detail of the Franks, but with the best bass control of the amplifiers I’ve tried. It’s also the clearest, with a super low noise floor and no discernible distortion.

After discovering this, I sadly put my Franks up for sale (still available if anyone is interested), bought the parts to build a second F4 so I could have two 50W monoblocks, and ordered the Sachs preamp to provide voltage gain. Driving the F4 by itself, my dac maxes out at around 90db.

I’m very surprised by this outcome, but I guess it’s just a situation of stumbling onto a really good amp/speaker match. I presume the F4 isn’t more widely loved because: a) it’s an older design not available new, and b) it shines best on an efficient speaker with a relatively flat impedance curve. I’m probably most surprised that it surpassed the Pass XA25 since that’s providing the same amount of power out of a newer, presumably better, circuit from the same designer. Just got lucky I guess...

In the 6 moons review of the F4 the key descriptive phrase was: "relaxed ultra resolution." That is a brilliant description of its sound. My longer description is smooth, slightly sweet, and ultra clean with an enormous soundstage and great layering. Plus I can keep it on 24/7 and not have to fret about my tube life.

Can’t wait to get the Sachs pre in the chain to see how it changes the sound. Music is already the best I’ve ever had and I’m hopeful for much more.

Hi all,
Sorry if this runs a little long, but I recently took delivery of my new Supratek Cortese preamp with LCR phono stage. The purpose of this post is to share my decision making process and experience in the hope that it will help others “find their way” through what was, for me, a somewhat daunting process. Overall, I have learned a lot and my perspective on audio and hi-fi has changed.

I used a Naim NAC 82 with a hicap power supply for about 15 years. The 82 replaced a Naim 72 that I’d had in my system for well over 10 years. I always enjoyed my system when using the Naim preamps but knew there was better equipment out there. As I prepared for retirement I started researching tube preamps. I read a lot on various forums, asked many dumb questions (still lots of those left to go) and decided to seek out a preamp based around the 6SN7 tube; while there are discussions about which 6SN7 is the best, for the most part it seems this tube is almost universally well regarded for audio applications. Correspondingly, my search eventually boiled down either to a Don Sachs Model 2 or a Supratek.

I had actually decided to purchase a Don Sachs unit before learning about Supratek but got hung up in the wife/budget approval process, so continued to research. The two companies/builders have much in common. Both are run by highly respected builders and are (as far as I understand) one man operations. Many of those who own pieces from either one of these builders describe the experience of listening to the equipment in glowing terms; many owners of each brand share that they came to it after ownership of products from many other highly regarded brands, such as Conrad Johnson and Audio Research. The reviews and comments on the internet seem to come from dedicated, long-term audiophile owners who swear by the product and state that their preamp is never leaving their system.

One of the main reasons I decided to go with the Supratek was that it included an on-board phono stage. I figured this would allow me to get rid of my Linn Linto phono stage. I also needed (or wanted) five inputs. I’ve owned the Linto for over 10 years and it has sounded excellent. I haven’t had the time or motivation to do a hard-core side-by-side comparison of the Linto with the Supratek LCR phono stage yet, but I think the Supratek sounds a lot better. I just hear a lot more information coming off the records. I suppose that’s a preliminary opinion. BTW, my Linto is a 25th anniversary model, so it’s getting a bit old, and I had to have it serviced last year. Linn no longer supports the product but the Seattle authorized Linn technician took it on and performed a service, replacing all faulty parts with more highly spec’d components.

I know I’m rambling here but please bear with me. I’ve started to write this review several times before and those earlier versions have somehow vanished into thin air on the internet.

Mick was an absolute gem to work with. The preamp is beautiful to look at. It comes across as a truly unique, bespoke product. It is not a standard “closed box” preamp, though if you are considering either a Don Sachs or Supratek product you’re probably most interested in the sound, reliability and value.

The sound: The first piece I played through the system was Shawn Colvin’s excellent 1994 release “Cover Girl”. I’ve listened to this cd countless times. Previously I thought I understood the lyrics. I now know I was wrong, because now I can clearly and easily hear them and know that previously my mind had been “filling in the blanks” to make sense of what it was hearing. I could go on and on about this cd but I’ll turn my attention to the second cd I played over they system – Pieces of Africa, by the Kronos Quartet. This is a wonderful 1992 release and the biggest difference through the Supratek was the incredible sense of cohesion of the quartet. Yes, the soundstage was huge, and each player clearly occupied a location within that soundstage. But this was merely a bonus, because the biggest delight was in understanding how the ensemble members were interacting and influencing each other. Amazing and wonderful to hear.

Next up was the 2017 Rhino Records “Summer of Love” reissue of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks album. Holy smokes. Now I can understand why hardcore fans and collectors love this album and pay big money for original pressings. I have no basis for comparing the Rhino pressing to any others, but I will say that the recording is very good to my ears and the pressing seemed to leave nothing out.

If you haven’t heard it yet, I encourage you to seek out the soundtrack to the movie “The Old Man and the Gun”. The press seemed to make a big deal out of the fact that this is apparently Robert Redford’s last movie. But the soundtrack is a hidden gem, a small group jazz release that is beautifully written, performed and recorded. The sound via the Supratek was nothing less than superlative.

Update, about four weeks in –
The preamp has continued to get better, more opened up, so to speak. The audio writer, Harvey Rosenberg, coined a word – “whole-osity” to try to capture the way superlative audio equipment conveys music. When discussing the work of Nobu Shishido he said that his artistic intent was “to take us to a musical territory that is so refined that there is no conventional language that can describe it....this is the job of the audio artisan...to inspire us to explore the ineffable”. When I incorporated the Supratek Cortese into my system I felt that I was having the same kind of experience.

The phono stage is amazing. Yes, I know my LP12 with Ittok is not really considered “high end” nowadays. There are numerous tables out there which are more highly regarded. In spite of the limitations of the Linn, the LCR phono stage extracts every ounce of music from the signal and conveys it so that the performer’s artistic intent is clearly conveyed. Detail, musical nuance, artistic choices, cohesion, the unity of an ensemble and so forth are beautifully conveyed. The line stage is similarly accomplished. Many musical pieces I previously thought simply boring or annoying have been transformed into something that holds my interest. While the accuracy and “hear-through” nature of the preamp enables the listener to “hear the hand” of the producer and recording engineer it doesn’t detract from the artistry of the performer.

I’m not someone who switches equipment into and out of my system very often. I’ve owned my humble LP12 for nearly 30 years, my ESL63 speakers for five, my Naim CD 3.5 for more fifteen, and so on. I’ve seldom purchased new. Every piece of equipment I’ve owned has provided great long-term satisfaction. The Supratek is exceeding every prior experience and every expectation I had. I can’t envision any situation in which I’d replace it. It’s very good.

One more comment - 
For the first time in a very long time, my wife has started to join me for listening sessions. And she stays for a long time, and we cuddle. Talk about a bonus!

Nice review. I used to have a Cortese and would consider purchasing another in the future. Agree that Mick is great to deal with. Hard to beat the Cortese if you want a great sounding preamp with a built-in phono stage. I'm intrigued by the new LCR phono stage. I hope to read more about it.
My only gripe with the one that I owned was that the separate power supply really warmed up my small-ish room, much like some tube amps would do. I'm wondering if the separate power supply of the new Cortese model warms up your room at all?

So far I haven't noticed the power supply warming anything up. However, my new listening room is about 16 x 24 and I sit about 15 feet away from the shelving where the Cortese and other equipment are located.