New preamps making new claims.

Actually the economics work like this: When a manufacturer introduces a new version of the same product, then all the retailers/distributors have to get rid of their display model and show the new version, and they are frequently under contract to do so. So they goose up their profits, at the cost of the dealers.

The dealers then thumb through their rolodex for their top group of customers, who can be counted on to trade in their "recent" stuff for "new, improved" stuff, and the dealer makes back some of the profit they lost having to sell off the display model for cheap.

Used/discount buyers then buy up the display model and the customer's trade-in . . . but these people usually like to change out their gear a lot, and the value of this particular model has plummetted since the new one came out, so they all, in turn, lose money on it until it ends up in a landfill.

And after awhile, since people don't want to spend much money on something they're going to be getting rid of . . . the manufacturer has to sell their stuff cheaper, in order to keep their sales. So they start the cycle again . . .

. . . and we all start leveraging our credit with each other to keep it going, but nobody knows how much debt each other has . . .

. . . well, you get the picture.

New stuff, the right new stuff, will run circles around the old stuff. I love old tube gear and have owned and still own some good old stuff. Fisher, Bogen etc.....

For example a new ART SLA 2 amp can be had for $260 on Ebay new. It sounds so wonderful and is far more refined sounding then many older pieces. $260!!

Also, low priced Chinese amps are all over the place for little cash new. They use similiar design and circuits as many of the older tube amps, but use better sounding, new parts and offer great cosmetics.

Bill

As a longtime user of vintage gear which has provided excellent performance and musicality, I can say that in the last few years, new components show big improvements in signal-to-noise ratio, linearity of op-amps, and the emergence of variable gain stages. A lot of the budget high end gear today has the transparency, bandwidth, s/n ratio, current delivery, frequency extension, speed, AND musicality previously associated only with the really expensive gear.

For examples:
The new Benchmark DAC Pre is highly regarded in all circles. Its line stage is considered to be excellent. Yet the only type that could fit in such a small chassis is an op amp. A few years ago op amps were widely reviled; now they're becoming main stream high end.

My 2004 Outlaw 950 multichannel pre/pro has an analog line stage that's every bit as good as my mid-'80s VSP Straightwire II, and that's saying something.

The $169 Cambridge Audio 640P phono stage is way better than the phono stage in my mid-'80s Amber Model 17 preamp, and that Amber was designed for vinyl enthusiasts--it has capacitance DIP switches for the MM phono input. The Cambridge is also *at least* the equal of the phono stage in the Straightwire, which was a $1500 unit in 1985.

PS Audio has the Gain Cell, allowing for variable gain rather than a preamp gain stage and an amp gain stage, with resistance-based attenuation in between. The variable gain stage lowers the noise floor and improves linearity. The Onkyo A-9555 integrated amp also has a variable gain stage, and also benefits from excellent linearity, speed, and transparency. It can also deliver up to 80 amps of instantaneous current, making for a very responsive, quiet, and resolving amplifier.

When I bought my first stereo in 1972, $400 would buy you a respectable 45 wpc receiver from Altec-Lansing, Pioneer, or Marantz. That's about $2200 in today's money. My $474 Onkyo A-9555 would have cost only $96.63 in 1972 dollars, but you couldn't have bought this Onkyo's performance then at *any* price.

I don't think that circuit design in itself has changed that much over the past 25 years & a good but older design is often viable for years to come but what is better now is the parts. When you send an older unit in for an upgrade, it is the parts in the audio path that are always targeted & replaced with newer better sounding replacements. In some cases the power supply is also targeted for upgrade, usually the caps.

So it is my opinion that companies that exagerate claims that the new model is so much better than last years (considering that one unit is only one year older than the other) is definately trying to make a sales pitch. This also leaves me wondering why their best effort was saved for last, maybe it's just prettier! It takes alot of discipline for an audiophile to recognize this and turn from the hype.