shindo aurieges ....

I tend to agree with Wilson. I've owned the Auriges twice and while its very good, it has flaws and there are better pre amps that can be had for less. I preferred an Audion premiere to my Shindo by a wide margin and the Audion gave me an extremely good phono stage. I actually preferred the Audion to the Dude Wilson mentions as well, but synergy may have been off as I expected more from the Dude.

ok i start to understand that this model of shindo is the enter level of shindo company and it doesnt agood value only the name of the good company "shindo" .
the only reason i look for shindo is because JOHN DEVORE (the person that built the devore speakers) recommend to use shindo amplification and this is what he is demo with this speakers with them .
now i like to know for sure if john devore use shindo because he get money for them or maybe it because is sound amazing this comb?
and last thing EAR868 now is in audiogon for 3900$ is it worth it is it better sound then shindo auriges or not (i mean what is more musically) ?
please help me decided :-)

I've been a bit unfair to the Shindo Aurieges. It is certainly one of the better preamplifiers on the market. It particularly excels at mid-range tonal beauty. But what it doesn't do so without giving up something, and that something is transparency, clarity and detail. On the other hand, it's full bodied and beautiful, and by all measures you would say that it sounds musical. It sounds like what you would expect a very good tube preamplifier to sound. But tube as in tube euphony, not tube as in tube transparency -- an old school tube component as opposed to what we might call a modern tube component.

As I understand, as you move up the Shindo lineup, the more expensive Shindos give you progressively more of the goods without giving up on the beautiful Shindo sound. But at the entry level, and at $4000 list price, the Shindo Aurieges would not be my first choice.

As for Devore speakers, I have no doubt that Devore speakers sound great with Shindo amps. That's Shindo amplifiers of course which presumably also imply a pairing with Shindo preamplifiers for synergy across the product lines.

What should you buy? You should buy whatever sounds great to you. John Devore loves his speakers with Shindo, but you might not. Which Devore speakers do you have? Efficiency and impedance may eliminate some types of amplifiers from consideration.

I think Wilsynet makes some good points. I am a Shindo preamp owner (Vosne-Romanee) and my feelings toward Shindo is similar to my feelings toward Koetsu. Both products prioritize tone. As you move up both product lines, you get additional texture and detail (especially at the frequency extremes).

IMO, Shindo and Koetsu lean toward the "old school" camp of audio sound. They draw inspiration from the classics of the past while trying to build upon them. A lot of Shindo owners are also into analog rigs, SET amps and high efficiency speakers. They embrace a wholistic system approach toward audio reproduction. Shindo dealers spend a lot of their time providing guidance to proper system matching to help achieve the "Shindo sound". As an example, I doubt a dealer would ever advise a Shindo preamp for someone who has high powered SS amps, inefficient speakers and a preference for digital sources. It will work but is not really the kind of sound Shindo voiced his gear around.

If you are the type of audiophile who prioritizes extreme detail and clarity, then I don't think Shindo is necessarily the best fit. If, however, you are a tone junkie who loves Garrard TT's and tube amps, then Shindo should probably be on your short list of equipment to audition.

I'll come right out and say it: I do not understand how or why a number of audiophiles prioritize extreme detail and clarity over musicality and tone. I want to hear the music, not the pen dropped by a percussionist, or a small fart let go by the 2nd violinist, and so forth...well, to each his own, glad we have a choice and the musical and tone folks still have some great choices such as Shindo, Leben, Devore and others.