New Rowland Criterion 2-chassis battery pre

Yes Guido, I think that will happen soon. I also very much want to compare a Continuum 500 with a Capri/312/PC1 combination. I really don't feel like lugging both my MPS-5 and C-5 to Austin, but...

Dave

Huh? I thought you had 2 arms. . . you'd look so dapper carrying one component under each [snickers!]

i can literally guarantee one thing regarding this new preamp.
the system you insert it into will have to resolve extremely fine detail, as in speakers that take no prisoners through the midrange, not to mention other components and some really decent interconnects as well. only then will you benefit from
some audio purity not found in the synergy or concerto, capri, etc. then the issue of the preamp being too "soft" or not dynamic enough (which if you care about stereophile, this is their common beef with rowland pre's) will have to be reversed by their "lofty" evaluations or simply ignored- the latter is my preference. they loved the levinson 32 ($17k), then a few years later decided that it now sounded "distant" and mechanical compared to halcro, bat, and VTL.
isn't it ironic that there are extremely simple preamp circuits and then there are massive 50 pound monsters (like the new BAT); both are considered class-A. a friend of mine bought a pass ALEPH-P awhile ago ($4k), and it was quietly considered almost as good as a PASSIVE preamp it was compared to (stereophile). the aleph-p is simple, pure class A, bal. or se inputs and outputs.
i will hypothetically put it up against anything you can use as an example of "so pure, so clean, etc." for 20, 30, 60 grand plus. maybe someone someday will go back to basics and perform such a test. yeah, there might be some diffeences, i'll concede that much. but how much? perhaps with the system cranked up really loud over monster speakers playing the 1812 overture...

Hi French_Fries. Point well taken. If I ever have the fortune of evaluating the Criterion in my own system, it may be fed by TEAC X-01 Limited; it may be feeding Rowland 312, Rowland 7M monos, NuForce 9; speakers will be Vienna Mahlers; It may be A/Bd to Capri, ARC Ref 3; ICS are AudioQuest Sky XLR; current speaker wires are Cardas Golden Refs. Hopefully system will be resolving enough. Of course, I have no idea if the eval will ever happen. G.

I have just heard that JRDG has started shipping the Criterion. First production units are being used to fulfill an apparently considerable order backlog. If anyone has had the opportunity of listening to Criterion already, please post here.