Any Comparisons between VTL 7.5 & ARC Ref 3

I believe Shane Buettner sold his original VTL7.5 to buy a REF3 about 1.5 years ago. I chatted with him when he had his VTL up for sale on AG and I know he ended up with a REF3 shortly thereafter.

I bought a brand new VTL 7.5 and used it for about a year. During that time period, I borrowed a REF3 (the upgraded version) from a local shop and used it in my system for about a week. I was using a Reimyo CD Player & Vandersteen 5A Speakers. I felt that both preamps produced wonderful sound, but I preferred the VTL 7.5. In my system, the REF3 added noticeable “bass boost” and seemed to just slightly add exaggerated sparkle on the top end. I preferred the “softer” sound of the VTL that I would describe as more accurate and/or natural (assuming such a thing really exists outside of my head).

Additionally, I had spent SIGNIFICANT time tweaking/fighting the VTL and found running it as VTL recommends works best. Valhalla PC directly to the wall outlet and sitting on a good isolation rack. I used the VTL for several months running into a Nordost Thor and this proved to be a bad thing. I mentioned this to the Nordost guys once at a demo, that convo did not go to well… I found that running the VTL into the Thor (and 4 other power conditioners I own) produced a very noticeable cold, flat and pretty much lifeless sound. I have heard many guys here on AG describe the VTL exactly that way and I wonder if the units they were using were running into power conditioners.

With the REF3, I plugged it directly into a wall outlet, using a mid level AudioQuest PC. I did not play with it anymore then this and I would agree that it would be possible to make subtle changes to its sound via tweaks, so yes, your mileage will vary.

About 10 months ago, I bought a new CD Player that has a built in volume control, a highly modified Esoteric UX-1. After a very short time, it was obvious that this Esoteric player sounds best with no preamp and thus I was able to sell my VTL 7.5. I really liked the VTL 7.5 while it was in my system and it worked 100% flawlessly from day one, which I can not say about the majority of high end gear I have owned.

I was using the VTL7.5 Series 1. I gave very serious thought to sending in my unit for a Series 2 upgrade, hoping it would equal running my Modded Esoteric direct as I really wanted to keep a preamp in my system, but in the end, I decided not to waste another 3K as I am confident it would not have proved better than running the Esoteric direct to amps.

Frankg, yes, Alex created my CD Player. It’s a 2.5 version and I could not be more happy with it. I am going to hold out until the end of the year before I send him my UX-1 for an upgrade as I would bet that another refinement will come by years end.

About what I said regarding the Thor, I was not trying to make an “absolute statement” but I thought it was ironic that from day one, VTL told me not to bother with power conditioners and of course, I said to myself…what do they know :), and in the end of my experimenting, VTL’s advice was dead on accurate (for me). FWIW, the best power conditioner I used which got me closest (but not there) to running direct to the wall was a Reimyo ALS-777. That Reimyo Power Conditioner noticeably improved the Reimyo CD player but it did not work at all on my new modded Esoteric UX-1.

As far as comparing the REF3 and the 7.5, I think it’s a completely fair comparison. Let’s face it; most high end gear is good and usually very good. The Differences between component A and another manufactures component A are usually minimal at best. What sucks is going to a high end shop to listen to Component A and the set up of the shop is a complete joke, from speaker placement, to extreme room clutter, to components sitting on the carpet, and the list goes on forever. You got to get this stuff back to your home if you r really interested in how it sounds.