Einstein The Tube users...help

Audphile1 wrote:

My suspision is that the Einstein preamp has very limited volume steps and that is what the problem is, along with its relatively high gain of course, which is typical for any tube pre.

Rhyno wrote:

the einstein doesn't have volume steps; its a continuous attenuator (not a ladder or shunt)

He ought to know. He owns one. Suggestions have been posted in response to your other question.

Boa2, I appologize if I sounded offensive.
Your posts were not argumentative at all. It is very informative to hear about how things integrate in someone else's system.

However, that quote from PS Audio does sound like BS, althouth you did say "take it for what its worth".
:)

Tboooe,

I have been following your post about the Einstein the Tube. Next Friday I am having an at home demonstration with the Einstein The Tube. A product and sales manager from the Einstein factory will be coming to my house to sell me their wares, haha. Living in Germany has its advantages. Anyway, my tube mono amps are rated at 210ohm input impedance which seems like a good range to use the Einstein. My amps can be seen here:
http://www.octave.de/english/products/PowerAmplifiers/INFO-MRE130.htm

If these were sold in the states they would compete in the price range of the Lamm ML1.2 and Mark Levinson ML33's. The manufacture sells these in Japan with 120 volts but not the USA because of some UL requirement that is too restrictive or something, not sure.

How would you describe the sound and especially compared to the BAT or the Aesthetix Callisto if you have demoed those yet? I am still doing my research and have not made a final decision yet. I still have another preamp which is the Callisto. I am interested in the soundstage to include width and depth, dynamics, clarity and naturalness of instruments and voices, that sums up a lot I guess, but I think that is what everyone else wants to know. Thanks.

V/r
Audioquest4life

audioquest4life:

Nice to hear from an audiophile from Germany. You are indeed lucky to have Einstein reps come to your home. As you already know, The Tube is a wonderful looking preamp. It's build quality seems top notce as well. I thought it was very clever that the tubes are all mounted on a spring loaded platform which helps to absorb vibration.

I cannot comment on the soundstaging and imaging as I am having some issues with this because of my room setup. I can comment on the sound however. And thus far, with The Tube, my system never sounded better. I listen to a lot of female vocals and jazz. To me, texture, realism and weight in the midrange is critical. With The Tube, voices sounded incredibly life like, as if I was in the same room with the singer. Instruments also had a sense of realism. I noticed things that I never heard before with my current preamp (Clase CP-700). Its not that The Tube reveled more detail, it just emphasized things that my current pre did not.

One of favorite cds to test midrange is Eva Cassidy's "American Tune". I was amazed at how rich and vibrant her voice sounded. There was a texture that allowed me to actually visualize and feel her vocal chords vibrating as she sang (I know that sounds weird but that is the best way i can describe it).

For bass and highs, I used Bliss' "Quiet Letters" cd. The opening track does a great job of testing the frequency extremes. The Tube handled this with ease. It reached as low as my speakers would go while also making highs sound natural, crisp, and immediate.

As a further test of the highs, I used Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's "Jazz Samba" cd. I can honestly say, that i neve heard more realistic highs than with The Tube.

Overall, I think The Tube's strength is in its ability to reproduce music in a manner that is lifelike and natural. I did not get a sense of rolloff at either frequency extreme, nor did I hear too much midrange bloom.

Of course, The Tube is not without its issues. Even though the sound is great, it does lack any real features. There is no volume display or volume (gain) adjustment. The standard remote is a cheap looking plastic unit. Make sure you take a look at the optional remote. It really is a work of art but at $700 its way too much. I would prefer to have an output trigger. These may not mean a lot to people but to me, they are important in terms of day to day use.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your audition. I would be curious to know if you have the same volume issues that I did with my maps.

kind regards,

Tboooe,

Thanks for a thorough update in regards to the Einstein.

I spoke with the Einstein factory today and they are going to bring balanced XLR cables to try in my system as well.

It is funny that I am testing a device that costs less than my current preamp, however, is tested and rated as a high-end product in the states. Pricing of this type of equipment plays into our hands tremendously, however, the pricier stuff does not always equal better. I tried the reference preamp from Octave, and man it was nice, great detail, clarity and very quiet, notice something missing, soundstage and width. They were not as good as the HP500SE to my ears at least. The Octave Jubilee sells for about 27K in dollars, 22keuros, and it did not have the soundstage as that of its little brother, hmmm, almost 2 times the price of its little brother preamp, which is no slouch. Well my point, is through our own endeavors, sharing of information and research, we are eventually going to find the right mix of components, no matter what the costs are reasonably speaking. The Aesthetix Callisto is what really I should aim for as it is supposedly a great match with the IO, I will learn that out soon enough, after the Einstein demo next Friday.

Good luck in solving your problem, which BTW I can bring that to the attention of the rep from Einstein and see what his answer is. Hopefully this will not affect me; I currently have 2 gain settings on my preamp, high and low and a volume control with remote control capability. I use the low gain as it is what allows me to get the volume up to about 1030-1130 or so to get decent listening volume. I guess that is the sweet spot because it sounds good. I am also told that using low gain improves signal to noise ratio. Have you ever heard of that?

V/r
Audioquest4life