Jylee,
I owned a VTL 5.5, and I really appreciated its drive and liked the way it sounded. The top end was very sweet. However, drawbacks were that it was a little noisy and had sort of a retro tube sound (bloomy bass). IMO, the Lamm LL2 Deluxe is a much nicer tube preamp, and one that makes virtually any partnering equipment sound good. You should read the August 2009 review by Tim Aucremann at the Soundstage! website. He pretty much nails the sound of the Lamm preamp, IMO. He compared it to his $12K Atmasphere MP-1 and noted the inherent differences in how each design sounds. I also owned a fully decked out Atma MP-3, and my experience with the Atmasphere preamp sound generally matched his assessment. Personally, I appreciate the low frequency drive and depth of the Lamm, and the midrange warmth/richness over the Atmasphere I owned, and I suspect the difference in drive has to due with the OTL design vs. having a transformer. A preamp I would put closer to the sonic attributes of the Atma-sphere (in the areas of clean high frequencies and soundstaging) is the CAT, which is also very nice, and exceptional in the bass. If you look at CAT, be aware they are high gain designs and be sure to look into the gain reduction options they are offering now, especially with your hiss considerations. The Tom Evans I discussed previously for its quietness is closer to the sonic characteristics of the Lamm. The noise thing is relative to your system and your preferences. Therefore, ideally you should hear what you plan to buy in your own system. BTW, the LL2 and LL2.1 should be sonically identical as far as my research goes, with the main sonic exception being the abilty to lower gain with the newer 2.1 version. The other differences are cosmetic and operational.
I owned a VTL 5.5, and I really appreciated its drive and liked the way it sounded. The top end was very sweet. However, drawbacks were that it was a little noisy and had sort of a retro tube sound (bloomy bass). IMO, the Lamm LL2 Deluxe is a much nicer tube preamp, and one that makes virtually any partnering equipment sound good. You should read the August 2009 review by Tim Aucremann at the Soundstage! website. He pretty much nails the sound of the Lamm preamp, IMO. He compared it to his $12K Atmasphere MP-1 and noted the inherent differences in how each design sounds. I also owned a fully decked out Atma MP-3, and my experience with the Atmasphere preamp sound generally matched his assessment. Personally, I appreciate the low frequency drive and depth of the Lamm, and the midrange warmth/richness over the Atmasphere I owned, and I suspect the difference in drive has to due with the OTL design vs. having a transformer. A preamp I would put closer to the sonic attributes of the Atma-sphere (in the areas of clean high frequencies and soundstaging) is the CAT, which is also very nice, and exceptional in the bass. If you look at CAT, be aware they are high gain designs and be sure to look into the gain reduction options they are offering now, especially with your hiss considerations. The Tom Evans I discussed previously for its quietness is closer to the sonic characteristics of the Lamm. The noise thing is relative to your system and your preferences. Therefore, ideally you should hear what you plan to buy in your own system. BTW, the LL2 and LL2.1 should be sonically identical as far as my research goes, with the main sonic exception being the abilty to lower gain with the newer 2.1 version. The other differences are cosmetic and operational.