Tube Research Labs Dude vs. Shindo Labs preamps

The preamp is the heart of the system based on my experience also. Subjective preference means some go active and some so passive. Some go tubes and some go SS.

I am in Southern, MN.

A great tube preamp can be the missing piece of the puzzle that brings it all together based on my experience.

Tthean,

What are you looking to improve in your system? What about the sound would you like to improve?

The Dude is a champ at these things.

- imaging is magic and state of the art
- 3D stage with great depth
- sense of scale and ease no mattter how loud
- music has body, texture and dimension

The above helps the Dude sound like music and less like electronics.

Your system is very nice indeed.

Knowing your likes and dislikes in a sound system will help greatly.

Tthean et al - I am enjoying this thread and hope to see more responses. I have 4 systems, each with a different preamp: Shindo Masseto, Leben RS28-CX, Audio Research Ref 3, and Quicksilver linestage. That is how I rank them musically. I hope someday to upgrade the Leben to a Monbrison and the Ref 3 to an Aurieges, so the comments in this thread are of interest to me.

@Grannyring - The characteristics you associate with the Dude are the same ones that I experience with Shindo preamps and to a lesser extent the Leben. I have not heard the Dude.

Eventually all 4 systems will have a Shindo preamp. The Shindo sound is, for me, that seductive, because it delivers the musical goods like no other preamp I have heard.

One thing to consider is the Dude costs about $4000 now with it's new beefy face and chassis. I think the Dude has put on some weight and may be up to 60-70 lbs. The Shindo Masseto costs almost 3 times more - $11,500!

I have not heard heard any Shindo preamp, but the Dude seems to be priced more real world. Don't let the price fool you as it can take on any $$ contender :-)

@Grannyring,

I understand your point and already realized from your comments and review that you believe the Dude punches way above its price point. I suspect many of us have that belief about one or more components we have used and enjoyed.

Case in point is the Shindo Aurieges, which costs ~ $3.3K now. When I get the Aurieges, for me, in my experience (I previously owned one for nearly one year before upgrading to the Masseto) and IMHO, it will be a significant upgrade over my ~$10K Ref 3 in terms of sheer musicality. When I had both the Ref 3 and the Aurieges I A/B'd them in 3 different systems and the Aurieges was far better musically. Of course, the Ref 3 offers many more features and conveniences than the Aurieges.