They're really very different... the Cary is definitely what I would call warm (but that doesn't mean that it obscures any details). The Benchmark is as stark neutral as it gets.
Cary SLP 98 vs Benchmark LA4
Looking to replace my preamp. I used a Parasound PLD 2000 for 20 years or more and have no complaints. It lost the right channel and the culprit seems to be the balance pot. I have searched high and low and cannot find one. Parasound dealers have been no help. Most won't even answer. I have tried half a dozen different preamps from the used market and not been delighted with any of them. Nakamichi, other Parasound units, Forte, an Audio Valve (which got damaged in shipping and ended up going back). I really wanted to hear that last one.
Anyway, I drive two Parasound HCA 2200 II amps into Teledyne AR9 speakers, biamped. I have a Cary PH 301 phono pre. I listen to vinyl much more than I do CD's probably 80% of the time. I do not stream any music. I know it's all "old school" but I am mostly very pleased with what I hear. Does anyone have any thoughts on these two preamps? I think the Cary is made to drive more than one amplifier. No idea on the Benchmark or whether one of these suits my needs more than the other. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks,
Bill
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Yes, these are very different. Cary is musical and natural sounding... a bit warmer than Conrad Johnson and quite a bit more than Audio Research. Benchmark highly detailed and somewhat sterile sounding. Long term, I have found the highly detailed and sterile sound to be very unsatisfying. If you want a musical satisfying preamp, I’d recommend looking at Conrad Johnson, Audio Research, Zesto, Cary or VAC... not all are well regarded tubed preamps. |
To @billpete for the Cary SLP-98 it also depends on how old it is, and which version of factory upgrades it does or does not have. Some of the older version caps installed are quite different sounding from newer version 98s with totally different coupling caps, different 6SN7s. I can make my system sound more neutral by just swapping in neutral detailed tubes and less rich sounding caps in the 98. Its also super responsive to different type interconnect cables depending how transparent the rest of the system really is. |
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