SELECTING THE RIGHT PREAMP

SO WHICH PREAMP SHOULD I BUY?

In short, each of them sounded totally different, almost from different era or music genre. It is the type of sound that you need to know you want to pursuit because otherwise on both use (all preamps has the power to drive tubes and solid state power amps) and measurements they are all the same splendid and quiet (most important criteria of a preamp - imagine the darkest place will be best for stars watching , and with our amps - you are on top of Mount Everest).

Our preamps are also known to be super reliable that none were ever send back for warranty repair - Yup, ZERO WARRANTY CLAIM.

So here is how each preamp sounds, that you needed to know.

The PRELUDE :

Sweet, accurate / realistic , good sound-stage and focus, 3D / holography, clean / high clarity and perfect amount of musicality , decay , romance (not too much - that it will sounded fake to some people). It is the best hifi kind of tube sound people seek after today.

Low gain design , which means of all preamps this will have the fewest sound change, noises and distortion and phase shift - aka the most realistic / purest sound playback (truest to the source).

Use : Thanks to its hybrid output section , it automatically match the impedance of what it sees (different than gain). Which suppose to match better and more power amps than other preamps. And some of our colleagues actually use it to drive their solid state power amps with show quality result. The PRELUDE actually sounded better and unleashed better than their own brand (of the power amp) of preamps in most cases. It just blew life into the music with the PRELUDE when solid state equipment cannot.

So from beginner to the very experienced tube-philes. The PRELUDE is a very good candidate, and easily the our top seller of all time. You don’t see it often because most people keeps it as reference - it is hard to beat for its modest MSRP.

The MAESTRO / MAESTRO 6

This is where it gets very different sounding.

The Maestro and Maestro 6 will bring you back to the best kind of sound from 30-50 years ago.

Think the infamous tube preamps, such as the Marantz and McIntosh, but with today’s further finesse and quietness.

Full , front row, super energized , powerful, high performance , strong sense of nostalgia and overtone, strong flavor / character and good bass and weight …etc.

You won’t miss any beat with these two preamps.

If you like vintage or classic HIFI equipment and sound - this is perfect for your big speakers.

If you like real vocals and acoustic instruments / chamber music , then this will not be for you. As you will never hear your violin hit it’s proper high note, and your favourite voice became more mature than actual.

The CONDUCTOR

So now, where does this one sits?

You guessed right - it gets the best of the both world between the Prelude and the Maestros.

And why does it cost so much?

Because its complexity of the line stage design. A same quality matching power amp would be 4-5X easier to engineer / and hit the specs.

And for preamps and phono stage - to yield the quietest operation always required an external power supply.