I'm contemplating my next preamp to mate with Wilson Sashas that are being driven by Lamm M1.2 Reference (hybrid) monoblocks.
Source is mostly vinyl (TW Acustic Raven One/Tri-planar/Dynavector XV-1s into Tron Seven phono stage).
Digital source is Berkeley Alpha DAC and when I use this it sounds best direct to the amps. Sounds terribly muddy and univolving through a preamp imo.
I want the best of both worlds:
1) flesh on the bone so instruments have a realistic size and enough weight to sound realistic.
2) Clean, non-distorted sound with transients that aren't softened and tight articulate bass.
I switch between two preamps for the reasons above (tube and solid state). When I start to miss one of the characters described, I switch. I enjoy both but would love to have just one preamp.
Does anyone else wrestle with this? Perhaps a true solution involves changing out more equipment than a preamp; I'm hoping not, but unsure.
Source is mostly vinyl (TW Acustic Raven One/Tri-planar/Dynavector XV-1s into Tron Seven phono stage).
Digital source is Berkeley Alpha DAC and when I use this it sounds best direct to the amps. Sounds terribly muddy and univolving through a preamp imo.
I want the best of both worlds:
1) flesh on the bone so instruments have a realistic size and enough weight to sound realistic.
2) Clean, non-distorted sound with transients that aren't softened and tight articulate bass.
I switch between two preamps for the reasons above (tube and solid state). When I start to miss one of the characters described, I switch. I enjoy both but would love to have just one preamp.
Does anyone else wrestle with this? Perhaps a true solution involves changing out more equipment than a preamp; I'm hoping not, but unsure.