Honestly, a wonderful and affordable tube preamp that would pair with the Tambaqui and has a small form factor is the Audio Mirror Linea. It is barebones but at $3K better sounding that Vinnie Rossi solutions that cost over $10K.
Add a pre-amp to Mola Mola Tambaqui?
In your experience is it worth it to add a preamp to the tambaqui?
I have a lumin u2 that features leedh processing
after listening to the tambaqui I am dead set on it. however, im wondering if i should get the makua pre-amp and add the tambaqui module ($20,700 retail) vs 13.5k retail tambaqui stand alone
I could also potentially use a different pre-amp maybe with a tube input stage.
however if i can avoid the pre-amp it would be preferable as that is a significant cost
i would be connecting to a krell duo 300 xd amp which feed kef blade speakers
does anyone have experience with this particular dac with/without preamp. How about preamp pairings?
Showing 3 responses by blisshifi
I have owned a Tambaqui and at the same time had a customer consign a Makua with the DAC built in. Unless you are dead set on conserving space, I would opt for a separate preamp and use the full Tambaqui unit. While the preamp is very clean, it did not offer good harmonics, and its effect on the Sonics left it a bit dry and processed sounding compared to many other preamps I’ve tried. I’ve also posted in other threads about DACs and their analog stages and have mentioned that after testing, I would never run a Tambaqui direct to amp. Its built in volume control is abysmal for a $14K unit. You will absolutely gain much (pun intended) by adding a quality preamp to the chain. |
@questforhifi GTT Audio is the distributor for Mola Mola in the US will know the dealer closest to you. You may want to give them a call. |