Recommend me a SS pre.....

[awsmone]

Only mention pres I have owned

Accuphase 3800
Esoteric C02
Halcro Dm8

All pretty awesome

Accuphase is most flexible
Esoteric and halcro similar
Halcro bit more transparent, esoteric more organic

Halcro has some nice features like current mode

Esoteric flexible interface

All three are massive, and weigh a ton

All have bespoke volume controls, which is critical for a pre

 

[jackelsson]

I'm shamelessly jumping on the back of this thread now...

I had a discussion with a friend the other day about potential alternatives to my Pass XP-30 which would play roughly in the same league in regard to price point and match or surpass the sound quality. Set objectives are solid state (no tubes!), a minimum of 3 XLR inputs and an XLR output. We had a bit of a hard time to come up with alternatives that match all requirements, especially the combination of number of XLR inputs at somewhat the same price.

Any suggestions?

 

[steve59]

I recently updated my system, on a budget. I replaced some mid heavy heavy, bass shy Kef's with some revel salon v1's and found I really missed the forward midrange of my old kef's and auditioning gear Hegel really 'woke' up the salons. A H360 made sense for me as it updated my pre, power, and dac all at once without losing any coin component matching. the unit replaced a parasound a21, krell 300il as pre, and rega jupiter cd. My first post on this forum.

 

[jackelsson]

Hi and welcome to WBF.

Hegel seems to be an interesting option in general, but in regard to my specific question -> only 2 XLR inputs on their preamps...

 

[steve59]

Thanks for the welcome. If the selections don't fit your needs it's a scratch for sure.

 

[asiufy]

Hi,

It's a bit more than the XP-30, at $22k, but the D'Agostino Progression Preamp is a beauty.

http://dandagostino.com/products/progression-preamplifier.php

 

[jackelsson]

Hi,

It's a bit more than the XP-30, at $22k, but the D'Agostino Progression Preamp is a beauty.

http://dandagostino.com/products/progression-preamplifier.php

Thanks asiufy, that's a very good proposal. Although... as much as I admire Dan D'Agostino for his achievements in regard to SQ I must admit that he and I do not exactly share the same view on aesthetics and industrial design.

Seriously, I'm sure there are a lot of people who really like the looks of his gear but I would have a really hard time envisioning this kind of design here in my home...

 

[BMCG]

Boulder 1010 preamp would seem to meet your criteria ( am assuming price about the same in USD as the 18k Gbp marker over here)


As for the asethetics....depends on your appetite for "industrial"

 

[PeterA]

I'm shamelessly jumping on the back of this thread now...

I had a discussion with a friend the other day about potential alternatives to my Pass XP-30 which would play roughly in the same league in regard to price point and match or surpass the sound quality. Set objectives are solid state (no tubes!), a minimum of 3 XLR inputs and an XLR output. We had a bit of a hard time to come up with alternatives that match all requirements, especially the combination of number of XLR inputs at somewhat the same price.

Any suggestions?

If you can be patient, I'd consider waiting a bit for the XP-30 replacement, the XP-32. I just upgraded from the XP20 to the XP22 and am very impressed with the improvement in sound quality. Pass Labs appears to have applied some of what they learned from developing their flagship XS line to the new line of preamps and phono stages.

I did once have the XP30 in my system but it was a while ago and I did not have the properly calibrated Transparent Audio cable for the comparison. I would be interested in knowing how a used XP-30 sounds compared to the new XP-22 for about the same price.

 

[steve59]

I appear to have paddled my canoe up to the yacht club, my sincere apologies.

 

[jackelsson]

I appear to have paddled my canoe up to the yacht club, my sincere apologies.

Hi steve59, sorry, I really didn't mean to offend. I just really had to lough when I saw your post. The first preamp proposal after my question - and of course it's one of the for me most aesthetically challenging designs out there. It's just that D'Agostino's design is a rather polarizing one. And I'm clearly not the target audience for this kind of design style. Sorry if I tread on your toes, I didn't mean to and I really appreciated your input.

 

[jackelsson]

Boulder 1010 preamp would seem to meet your criteria ( am assuming price about the same in USD as the 18k Gbp marker over here)

As for the asethetics....depends on your appetite for "industrial"

Good one that we didn't come up with, thanks. I'm not sure though if there is a distributor over here in Germany so that may be more of a theoretical option.
And yes, that's definitely more the design route that I could envision here in my listening room...

 

[jackelsson]

If you can be patient, I'd consider waiting a bit for the XP-30 replacement, the XP-32. I just upgraded from the XP20 to the XP22 and am very impressed with the improvement in sound quality. Pass Labs appears to have applied some of what they learned from developing their flagship XS line to the new line of preamps and phono stages.

Hi Peter,

That's an obvious one...

Well, there are really no immediate plans for me to change trains. It was really just a friend and myself toying with the idea which other preamps would be a potential option in the first place. And we were surprised that we had such a hard time to come up with contenders that match all of the few criteria. A larger number of balanced inputs doesn't seem to be too high on the radar of manufacturers for this specific price point...

 

[jackelsson]

I would be interested in knowing how a used XP-30 sounds compared to the new XP-22 for about the same price.

Yes, that is definitely something I would be interested to know, too.

But then again: only two balanced inputs.

 

[steve59]

Hi steve59, sorry, I really didn't mean to offend. I just really had to lough when I saw your post. The first preamp proposal after my question - and of course it's one of the for me most aesthetically challenging designs out there. It's just that D'Agostino's design is a rather polarizing one. And I'm clearly not the target audience for this kind of design style. Sorry if I tread on your toes, I didn't mean to and I really appreciated your input.

No offense taken, in fact it wasn't any post that caused my reply as much as the list of equipment of each members gear under each post... yeah maybe a little shock after seeing the double D pre and accompanying price

 

[dan31]

Hi Peter,

That's an obvious one...

Well, there are really no immediate plans for me to change trains. It was really just a friend and myself toying with the idea which other preamps would be a potential option in the first place. And we were surprised that we had such a hard time to come up with contenders that match all of the few criteria. A larger number of balanced inputs doesn't seem to be too high on the radar of manufacturers for this specific price point...

The Ayre preamps have several xlr inputs. The KX-R twenty is very nice if you have several balanced sources and the input impedence is easy on front end tube equipment that have a hard time for 10k ohms input impedence.

 

[PeterA]

I appear to have paddled my canoe up to the yacht club, my sincere apologies.

That's pretty funny, Steve. My daughter, a competitive high school sailor, raced in the C420 North American Championships last Summer. They were held at the Buffalo Canoe Club, in Fort Erie, Ontario. I very charming, low key, yacht club with an extremely friendly membership. I didn't see a singly canoe on the grounds, but there were plenty of sailboats and the top sailing kids from all over North America.

Sorry, Back on topic....

 

[rblnr]

and auditioning gear Hegel really 'woke' up the salons. A H360 made sense for me as it updated my pre, power, and dac all at once without losing any coin component matching. t

Hi and welcome to WBF.

Hegel seems to be an interesting option in general, but in regard to my specific question -> only 2 XLR inputs on their preamps...

I think a sense of energy (woke up) is a trademark of Hegel components. Too many components seem to drain a little bit of energy and life IMO which is a real dealbreaker for me.

While it depends on the specific sources and length of the runs, you could likely use an XLR --> single ended adapter w/o SQ loss on one to deal with the (only) two XLR inputs.

 

[wisnon]

Tortuga LDR preamp with adjustable impedance:

See a post from A/Circle here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=152292.msg1628148#msg1628148

 

[jackelsson]

I'm just bumping this thread up to see if there are anymore ideas coming up in regard to a SS preamp in the Pass XP-30 range with min. 3 XLR Inputs...