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Conrad-Johnson Premier 3 preamplifier
It says something for the state of technology that, after a quarter of a century, there still is no authoritative explanation for why so many high-end audiophiles prefer tubes. Tubes not only refuse...
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Convergent Audio Technology SL1 Renaissance preamplifier
"Are You a Sharpener or a Leveler?" was the title of my "As We See It" in the February 2009 issue. The terms sharpening and leveling come from work in the field of perception by the early Gestalt...
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Listening #88 / Tempo Electric Arthur Loesch 1.1 Control Preamplifier
I am not in the mood for whirling.the Beatles, "Revolution 9" The single-ended-triode movement of the 1990s may not have changed everyone's point of view, but its aftershocks endure. Low-power amps...
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Musical Fidelity AMS Primo line preamplifier
Musical Fidelity's Tri-Vista kWP, introduced in 2003, was an impressive, high-tech, "statement" audiophile preamplifier. Its outboard power supply weighed almost 56 lbsmore than most power...
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Listening #91
At our best, audiophiles are the selfless and generous custodians of a thousand small libraries, keeping alive not only music's greatest recorded moments but the art of listening itself. At our worst,...
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NAT Symmetrical line preamplifier
Sometimes, a product review in Stereophile can breed additional reviews. Shortly after I reviewed the Audio Valve Conductor line stage in the July 2009 issue (Vol.32 No.7), I was contacted by NAT's US...
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Listening #94
If you've followed their story here and elsewhere, you probably know that Tokyo's Shindo Laboratory (footnote 1) has a reputation for defying the two most monolithic of all high-end audio...
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Einstein Audio Components The Tube Mk.II preamplifier
It doesn't take a moroon to appreciate the audacity of naming a company after Albert Einstein, the iconic science and math whiz. Clearly, company founder and owner Volker Bohlmeier knew what he was...
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Audio Research SP14 preamplifier
The name "Audio Research" will be familiar to many readers of this magazine. It belongs on the list of that select group of manufacturers who continue to offer the audiophile and music lover equipment...
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Audio Research LS8 line preamplifier
While high-priced equipment can easily acquire stature on grounds of outright performance and physical appearance, we critics have more admiration for genuine achievement at lower price levels. One...
View ArticleYpsilon PST-100 Mk.II line preamplifier
Though essentially a two-man operation based in Athens, Greece, Ypsilon Electronics has been, since 1995, turning ears and eyes throughout the audiophile world with purist, hand-crafted electronics...
View ArticlePrimaLuna DiaLogue Three preamplifier
At what point does a domestic audio product cease to be an appliance and assume a loftier place in one's home and heart? We all can agree that a Bose Wave CD player sits at one end of that continuum,...
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Conrad-Johnson PV11 preamplifier
I must admit that, for a long time, I found it difficult to accept the idea that a major portion of one's audio budget should be spent on the preamplifier. Speakers, yesthey produce the sound; amps...
View ArticleAudio Research Reference 5 SE line preamplifier
I've heard a lot of great audio components over the years, but even in that steady stream of excellence, a few have stood out as something special. These are the products that, in their day, set a new...
View ArticleJadis JPL line preamplifier
In its comparatively few years in the marketplace, the line-level preamplifier appears to have established commercial parity with its full-function big brother. That this was inevitable was clear as...
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Nagra Jazz line preamplifier
Branding can be powerfula well-developed brand connotes strong images in the consumer's mind. Apple means ergonomics, elegance, ego. Fremer means analog, exuberance, fastidiousness. Rolex means...
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VTL TL-5.5 Series II Signature line preamplifier
As I've lately had the pleasure of reviewing some impressive tubed components, I asked myself why I hadn't ever reviewed anything from VTL Amplifiers. My history with VTL goes back to the 1986...
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Listening #133
If you travel along Route 20 in upstate New York, you might see the hitchhiker my family and I refer to as the Old Soldierso called because this slightly built man, whose age could be anywhere from...
View ArticleZesto Audio Leto line preamplifier
When Carolyn Counnas, co-founder of Zesto Audio, contacted editor John Atkinson to ask about getting the Leto, the company's tubed line stage preamplifier ($7500), reviewed in Stereophile, JA...
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Audio Research SP20 preamplifier
When I began my journey into audiophilia, I was in awe of the Audio Research Corporation's flagship SP preamplifiers. As I sat there in the early 1980s with my modest Apt Holman preamp, all of my...
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