Hello
@teajay In your review of the SPL Elector and two SPL amplifiers you were impressed with their
"overall silky-smooth presentation...grainlessness,,,balance where all frequencies are woven together in a natural, seamless manner...and great overall macro-dynamics"
I am curious whether the comments above also describe the Elector preamp on its own, or only when used with the amplifiers, and whether the Elector preamp offers the same musical capabilities you described in your OP above for the smaller Volume2:
"It is a pure conduit at passing on the upstream gear’s tonality/colors, dynamics, and spatial qualities. It has a vanishing noise floor, that allows micro-details to pop out to be easily heard."
I am also curious about specific design differences that may affect any sonics between the Elector and the Volume 2. I am having trouble deciphering the specifications as to the amount of gain provided by each of the SPL preamps. The specs for the Volume 2 report gain as: "∞ bis -4dB." The specs for the Elector discuss the output level (max. output level 32,5 dBu) but do not specifically provide a value for gain. From the literature, I also cannot determine whether the Volume 2 uses their high voltage VOLTAiR 120V technology that is used in the Elector.
Any insight you can provide about the gain and sonic differences between the Volume2 and Elector would be appreciated.
BTW, let the folks at ST know that some of us appreciate photographs of the gear internals (as provided by one of the other pubs).