Backert Labs Rhumba preamp


Hello,
I am thinking of going to an active line stage for sometime now. I have a separate thread for that and people have suggested some good choices. The reason for this thread if that, while I have all along said that  don't want tubes in the system, a few have convinced me that I should try tubes in the system, especially with ProAcs.
With that said, I researched a few tube preamps, that have XLR out and the Backert Labs Rhumba is the one that has only 2 tubes, which makes me comfortable to "deal in tubes".

I would like to hear from Backert Labs Rhumba owners who moved from Solid State preamplification to this preamp. What are the differences you heard? Any improvements?

I read a review on the Stevehoffman forum and the user mentioned that there is a "hum" in this preamp. This bothers me and hence I decided to check on this forum, if anyone has experienced this with the Rhumba in their system. One poster on this forum also confirmed the "hiss":
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/backert-preamps-any-users

So I was wondering, if there are any users who have recently purchased this preamp and what is their experience with the hum/hiss issue.

BTW, I blame Ralph of Atma-Sphere, Almarg  and my dealer for making me consider tube amps :-) Can't believe I am creating this thread.

Thanks!
128x128milpai

Showing 2 responses by rdoc

I have my Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3 paired with my Pass Labs XA-25.  It makes a sublime combination!  
I use a Musica Pristina Server with a 1 TB ssd to hold my music.  The MP is connected to a PS Audio Directstream dac via I2S which is a lot better than usb.  Loudspeakers are Sonus Faber Elipsa SE's and REL Carbon Limited subs.  Soundstaging is glorious in width and depth.  One of my non audiophile friends that sat to listen for the first time asked, "Do you have speakers behind us?".  The system is very easy and non fatiguing to listen to for hours. You can see a picture of my system on the PS Audio forum under the "System Photos" thread.  The Rhumba 1.3 is a very big part of sound of my system.