Any Experience With Conrad Johnson ET3 Preamp?

I own the ET-3 SE. I have owned many preamps (Adcom GFP-750 blue board, CJ PF2, Rogue Metis, ARC LS26, and McCormack LD-2). These are all great preamps with distinctly different sound. To me, the ARC LS26 and CJ ET-3 SE are in next level sound above the others (and cost much more). The ARC LS26 is more flexible with gain selection, balanced, etc. They both sound outstanding. The CJ with an upgraded tube (like Gold Lion specially selected by Jim McShane) just has that "right" musical sound with all the detail, instrument/voice soundstage placement that you don't want to turn off. You just want to close your eyes and enjoy.

Warning: you need to burn in for 300 plus hrs.

Hawk28. Sorry, I have not compared the standard to SE. You can always upgrade to SE later if you think you need to move up in performance. I don't think the upgrade is much more than the price difference between the two units.

Rower30,

If you are looking at the RLD-1, have you looked at the LD-2 with the CJ Teflon upgrade. The LD-2 has the SMc upgrades already (I believe). The Teflon cap upgrade is another step forward. I owned the LD-2 and it is very nice but I don't think it will match the Pass XP10. XP10 is $5250 retail. It is at a high level (price) even compared to the ET3 SE.

In the audition, you need to confirm a few things on the ET3 SE.

1. It needs 500 hrs on the Teflon capacitors for the sound to fully bloom. This is the misty morning or a bad tube.

2. It is a very high gain preamp as is all zero feedback tube designs (25 db gain - pass xp10 has only 10 db) If you have a high sensitivity amp you (under 1v for full power), you may hear some hiss with high sensitivity speakers. This is not a good synergy for the system.

3. You need to make sure the tube is good. I had a couple problems with the tubes on mine. They are inexpensive tubes. . They are $16 tubes. You may want to make the investment in auditioning from Jim McShane in a gold lion tube.

I had the MAP-1 (6 channel version of the RLD-1) and it was great. The LD-2 was a step improvement (the factory upgrade with teflon caps by CJ will take it to a new level after 500 hrs) and the ET-3 SE is Large step forward with a good tube and 500 hrs. The Ld-2 will be dead quiet. The Et3 SE may have a slight hiss with a high gain system but sounds better than the LD2. Keep in mind the Pass is 25% more expensive, I am sure it is a great preamp. You may want to keep it.

Happy hunting ont the RLD and LD2. This may be the sound your looking for. If you really want something in the ET3 SE sound quality with tubes, you should look at an ARC LS26 as you can lower the gain to keep it quiet like a SS but with the Tube magic. I owned one and it sounds great and is very flexible. Again, this would be a $6k preamp . Best regards.

Good luck! I am sure it will have outstanding sound quality. Let us know.