Fantastic synergy with Classe. I use a big ol Classe and Joule on my even bigger Magneplanars--the whoppers, and sounds fabulous. I went through more preamps than mac. Probably ten, Audible Illusions, CJ, all the ones you see advertise. Jud barely advertises because there is no way he could be a bigger company and serve his customers properly. It is a small company, like Merlin, that has been really successful remaining small and staying out of the big advertisements that you see in audio mags that cost plenty and force you to sell more units to make a profit, and the first thing that goes is quality. Cheaper parts, higher prices, more employees who need benefits, raises, etc. If you are like me, an older audiophile, you need an excel spreadsheet to list all the "great" audio companies that have gone out of business since I started and began reading the mags. I had the great Hapi One preamp by Hageman, great reviews, out of business. You can go on for months. How many companies has Bob Carver burned through and now he's basically down to a subwoofer company.
One thing original post hasn't gotten around to is the amazing tweaks the owner can do with this preamp, which should cost $10000 to get the attention it deserves. It can be tweaked with a cheap multimeter (Jud coached me on the phone and it took me two minutes!) and one can sweeten it up, make it brighter, etc. It is point to point component wiring with really expensive Purist, they use huge copper traces on a circuit board ONLY for grounding! You can sub tubes for different sound, again user adjustable according to simple instructions from Jud. All the boards are using EAR washers and extensive EAR deadening (just tap on this machine anywhere--its quiet) Lots of other brilliant innovations in power supply (Batteries!) and stuff you can't find at this price point. Frankly, its a steal. You don't need footers or anything, and when you try even Aurios, no difference.
One thing original post hasn't gotten around to is the amazing tweaks the owner can do with this preamp, which should cost $10000 to get the attention it deserves. It can be tweaked with a cheap multimeter (Jud coached me on the phone and it took me two minutes!) and one can sweeten it up, make it brighter, etc. It is point to point component wiring with really expensive Purist, they use huge copper traces on a circuit board ONLY for grounding! You can sub tubes for different sound, again user adjustable according to simple instructions from Jud. All the boards are using EAR washers and extensive EAR deadening (just tap on this machine anywhere--its quiet) Lots of other brilliant innovations in power supply (Batteries!) and stuff you can't find at this price point. Frankly, its a steal. You don't need footers or anything, and when you try even Aurios, no difference.