Cary Audio SLP-05 or Conrad Johnson ET7 S2

Cary

Both, :-)

in general i feel cj > cary

but the slp-05 is widely well regarded, and it has been viewed as cary’s very best effort (i have had other cary preamps but i have never had the slp05 in my own system)

my guess, and it is only an educated guess, is that cary’s voicing would be slightly more tubey at the frequency extremes than the cj et7-2 (which i do have in house) - the new cj et7 is very transparent and extended at both frequency extremes, has terrific transient response and impact, while dealing out a good dose of tube magic to voices and acoustic instruments

hard to go wrong with either choice - and perhaps ergonomics might influence choice... the cary is a two chassis unit needing more than normal real estate on a rack, whereas the cj et7 is notably ’slimline’ in form factor

Just get both.. Come on.. Quit being so cheap..:-)

You know you want to... Go ahead... 

Just tell her you'll send one back, pretty soon..  Sell her car and pay for it.. Easy...

Regards

never heard the CJ but have been enamored with my SLP 05 for almost a year.  the Cary is warm, smooth, ultra refined and detailed with great dynamics and a crazy deep and wide sound stage.  
it has adjustable gain which comes in handy, a two box eye candy design that is stunning, unique sound of the 6SN7 tubes and a desirable r core transformer that is the best in the business for low noise.  luxman also uses r core transformers in some products.  
the CJ uses one tube, does not have adjustable gain and inverts phase at the output.  it is also twice as much as the Cary which is quite reasonable at Cary direct.