I'll add my 2cents to this line. I just wrote my first ever post on the main Audio Horizon thread as I'm now auditioning a demo 2.0 preamp and like many of these others, have decided to buy his new 2.1. I've tried quite a few preamps and I think this has the best of the traits I like, sweet sounding yet with a great deal of detail. My last 15 years of work was in the Army in Audiology and running the Hearing Conservation Program so I know how good my hearing is and I'm not affiliated with AH. I've tested literally 10s of thousands of soldiers and family members so I'm quite familiar with how beeping tones do not show the true measure of hearing abilities, there's many other things at work in the system so you just have to find the sound you like, so hopefully the individual that started this thread will try an AH preamp. Go ahead, try it, I think you'll like it.