2. amps-preamps
  3. 162925-155525

Do I need pre-amp? Upgrade amp or buy pre-amp? Audionote system

Hello everyone,

I have a strange question.. Tried googling, but found a number of various answers but still not to the point where all is clear.

Currently I own Audionote P3 Silver amplifier which has integrated volume control, play music through it without any pre-amp, sounds great, no issues. I was thinking to upgrade it to a better AN amp, but upgrade would cost around the same as a good pre-amp. My question is - do I upgrade to a better amp or purchase pre-amp and use it with current amp?

AN has Meishu line, which as I understand has a built in pre-amp, so theoretically, Meishu should sound better than P3 despite being same line just because it comes with integrated pre-amp?

Thanks!
128x128execine
chilli42
111 posts
 
You might consider buying an integrated amp.  It will save money on interconnects and power cables and should be overall cheaper than a separate amp and preamp combination.  Take the savings and use it to buy a DAC for your Tidal streaming.
execine's avatar
execine OP
5 posts
 
that is also a possibility for sure! I have 3.1 Dac already :)
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 
I would go the integrated route...so many great choices out there now. Just need to start your research, but that is part of the fun. 
jond's avatar
jond
5,911 posts
 
I was just looking on the AN website look like the P3 has been upgraded to Tonemeister status. Getting your amp upgraded might give you a very significant increase in sound quality at a fairly low investment.
jond's avatar
jond
5,911 posts
 
Weirdly someone asked a very similar question on that thread I posted yesterday about Meishu vs P3, here is the question and a very helpful dealer response.
I will use only one input into the amp so a P3 Silver Tonmeister will give me the same performance as a Meishu Silver Tonmeister? (Signal from a Dac 0.1x that will be upgraded to a 3.1x). My amp today is the AN Cobra
Incorrect. It will not give you the same performance, in this case, less is still less. The pre amp stage in the Meishu Silver Tonmeister is not a detracting feature. If you don't want a separate preamp then just get the integrated rather than the P3. It's about 18% more in price initially but if you are not going down the road of pre and power amps, then perfectly justified. If you do want a pre and power eventually then the P3 would be a good option.
More to discover