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New Preamp arrived....

So a few short hours ago my Quicksilver Line Stage Preamp arrived. It will be replacing a Schiit SYS passive that was bought to be able to implement the first piece of the puzzle, the power amp, and be able to sell my cheapo integrated.

its been 20 months since the power amp arrived so today was super exciting.
I hook it all up (and reverse the speaker connections as it says it inverts phase) and...

Well its every bit as clean and clear as the Schiit. Bass is a little better. The volume knob can actually be turned further to get as loud as the Schiit which was surprising. The treble has some sizzle on the very top end which I’m assuming will work itself out over time. Not much different in the bass department.

My fear going in was it’d sound the same which would add a heavy dose of buyer’s remorse ($1300 vs $50). It’s got the stock JJ 12AT7 tubes and I have a pair of NOS RCA black plates coming next week.

So what kinds of things can I expect for the first few days/weeks?
gochurchgo
gochurchgo OP
923 posts
 
@yogiboy 

I'd love to know your thoughts on it and what tubes you are using.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,765 posts
 
I said I thought it is outstanding. I use vintage Ge grey plate circa 1960’s!
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,220 posts
 
There are a bunch of tubes you can use, change out the stock fuses and put Stabilant 22 on the tube pins herbies tube dampers 
and good feet all will improve the resolution.
sonicjoy
146 posts
 
Ya as has been said give it some time to break in and yourself some time to get used to it. You don’t always notice the subtle differences right away. Things like imaging and sound field differences etc. can take time to notice. And as has been mentioned after a good while getting used to it swap the old one back in, that is when you will notice the difference’s.
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
This is not surprising at all . Hopefully you can return the Quicksilver if you do prefer the shiit in the end . A better pot volume control is the Knobsound NS 05P . It has both RCA and balanced ins and outs . 
I once had a $7000 Marantz pre and I preferred a Plain volume pot to it . Every audiophile should get a SYS or Knobsound like pot and do a comparison to their current preamp . Thousands of dollars to turn up and down the volume is pretty crazy .
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