Adcom GFP 750: why spend more?


After reading all the rave reviews since the late 90's I finally caved in and bought a second hand unit...no need to say more, it is quite an amazingly transparent gear and smoked my VTL 5.5 in the area of transparency, neutrality and bass control....and with my tube DAC, I do not need more tube magic in my system.
I am wondering what can be gained by spending more all the way to 20 times more to buy an active SS or tube preamp that will induce some coloration at best. In other words, when the almost ideal absence of coloration is available with balanced in-out, remote, balance control, HT by-pass and pre-out, when is more needed, really? Please educate me on the benefits of "more" when less is likely more in the world of preamps..am I missing something?
kanuk
I completely agree. It is an amazing preamplifier for the money and competes with much more expensive units. Let's not forget that despite the Adcom badge, this thing was designed for Adcom by none other than Nelson Pass!
Enjoy.
better preamps short-out unused inputs, provide SE and BAL inputs and outputs, use much-higher quality connectors, detachable power cords, resonant-free cabinets, longer lasting and quieter switching devices... another thing is the box needs to be stable and solid enought or it gets thrown all over the place by the sheer weight of the cables attached to it. otoh, you can buy a superb "used" preamp that used to be class "A" for 30 cents on the dollar. i set a limit on what i will spend on a preamp, and it's pretty high. but i will never buy a boulder or "whatever" for over $30k. not ever. and i respect boulder and fm acoustics, goldmund, kondo, etc. dynaudio even tried to market a $100,000 preamp awhile back. and what the heck was THAT suppose to sound like? but IMHO music sources aren't that good that i feel i need to worry about a $60K preamp. geez, man, just buy a steinway and get a piano teacher...
geez, man, just buy a steinway and get a piano teacher...


I have a Yamaha Disklavier baby grand on order.....
750 is a decent preamplifier for a system with low to average resolution. With good speakers, power amplifier and source however is will show all of its shortcomings, which are plenty.
How would the GFP 750 in passive mode hold up to a Sonic Euphoria PLC?

I'm seriously considering one of those.

I also wonder how the $399 Shanling PH300 headphone amp, used as a 2-input preamp, would compare to those tube-based Melos head amps of a decade ago.