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in general i feel cj > cary
but the slp-05 is widely well regarded, and it has been viewed as cary’s very best effort (i have had other cary preamps but i have never had the slp05 in my own system)
my guess, and it is only an educated guess, is that cary’s voicing would be slightly more tubey at the frequency extremes than the cj et7-2 (which i do have in house) - the new cj et7 is very transparent and extended at both frequency extremes, has terrific transient response and impact, while dealing out a good dose of tube magic to voices and acoustic instruments
hard to go wrong with either choice - and perhaps ergonomics might influence choice... the cary is a two chassis unit needing more than normal real estate on a rack, whereas the cj et7 is notably ’slimline’ in form factor |
Just get both.. Come on.. Quit being so cheap..:-)
You know you want to... Go ahead...
Just tell her you'll send one back, pretty soon.. Sell her car and pay for it.. Easy...
Regards |
never heard the CJ but have been enamored with my SLP 05 for almost a year. the Cary is warm, smooth, ultra refined and detailed with great dynamics and a crazy deep and wide sound stage.
it has adjustable gain which comes in handy, a two box eye candy design that is stunning, unique sound of the 6SN7 tubes and a desirable r core transformer that is the best in the business for low noise. luxman also uses r core transformers in some products.
the CJ uses one tube, does not have adjustable gain and inverts phase at the output. it is also twice as much as the Cary which is quite reasonable at Cary direct.
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Forgot to mention that this is HER system; I can spare no expense to keep her happy. If I get to listen to Pink Floyd for just 5 minutes, I consider it a win.
thanks for the input so far…much better than all the reviews I’ve read. |
"Nyquist is built around the ESS ES9018S Sabre DAC, one for each channel. Each 9018 DAC incorporates eight separate digital-to-analog converters; their outputs are combined to lower the noise floor, randomize any conversion errors, and create a balanced output signal. Brinkmann uses only the DAC portion of the Sabre chip, ignoring its integral PLL and upsampling digital filters. Rather than use these compromised sub-systems, the Nyquist has a separate Brinkmann-designed PLL and re-clocking circuit to reduce jitter. The clock is said to have very low phase noise, and is located right next to the DAC chip (the point where jitter matters). Similarly, the digital filter is implemented in a separate DSP chip running Brinkmann’s custom filter software. This filter upsamples all incoming PCM data to 352kHz or 384kHz for conversion to analog. Sources at 44.1kHz or multiples of that rate (88.2kHz, 176.4kHz) are upsampled to 352kHz; sources at 48kHz or multiples of that rate (96kHz or 192kHz) are upsampled to 384kHz. This dual-frequency scheme avoids sonically degrading non-integer upsampling. Interestingly, the 3.3V that supplies the ES9018S DAC chip is derived from the 160V rail that supplies the tubes. Brinkmann found that this supply technique improved the sound compared with powering the DAC chip from a conventional supply" .
@langla4,
I posted This to point out that this DAC has an output voltage of 3.3V.
The two preamplifiers you’re interested are both considered to be sonically excellent. The one potential drawback is that both are high gain (Particularly the CJ ET7 with 25 db of gain). The Cary has about 18 db of gain.
This level of gain coupled with your DAC’s relatively high 3.3V output could result in excess system gain. This would limit your volume control range of use. You may not be able to use the volume control above say 9 o’clock (Or thereabouts) as it will be too loud. Just a point to consider.
With the DAC's 3.3V output, 10 db of preamplifier gain would be plenty. You also need to factor in the sensitivity of your speakers. The higher the sensitivity, the less system gain required. One more factor to be aware is the input sensitivity of the Decware tube amplifier. The more sensitive it is, the less system gain is required.
Charles |
They are both good preamps but I like to have separate power supplies whenever possible so I would lean toward the Cary. |
Charles 1 Dad: Thank you SO Much for pointing out the gain issue. It’s exactly why I asked for help from this forum. I’ll expand my search to stay at or below 10db of gain. BTW, I have extremely sensitive Lii Audio Silver 10 speakers-I seem to remember the rating at about 96db. |
@langla
your decware amp appears to be an intrgrated amp and does not have high level preamp inputs.
if it did the gain issue would not be a problem with the cary because it has adjustable gain.
you could consult with decware, i bet they could easily modify the amp to accept preamp inputs. |
@langla4,
You are welcome. I was in that very situation years ago and learned from it😊. I am very confident that you will find the right solution to make this audio system work quite splendidly. You’ve already made some very good decisions based on what you currently have.
@avanti1960, what are the selectable gain settings for the Cary SLP-05 ?
Charles
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charles,
gain is continuously variable- 0 to max on the dual front controls.
right now i have them set to half |
My Decware 341.5 has a maximum input sensitivity of 10v or about 9db. Full “power” is achieved at 2 volts or about 12db. So with the Cary, and correct me if I am wrong, I could use their gain setting to stay below the maximum. I will be using the unbalanced output which, according to general thought, is about 50% of a balanced output.
Once again, thanks to all of you. You made this mid 70 year old do the math! It is a shame that the Luxman, Audio Research and Vinnie Rossi are way out of the price range for me. Their specs fit nicely. |
@avanti1960,
I was not aware the Cary SLP-05 has that degree of gain range flexibility. This allows it to be compatible with practically any power amplifier. I wonder why this feature is not available with more preamplifiers. Total audio system gain is an issue that has to be accounted for.
Charles |
I wonder why this feature is not available with more preamplifiers. Total audio system gain is an issue that has to be accounted for. i would suspect the answer would be cost, complexity, and potentially, slight sacrifice in sonic purity as a result... but i totally agree that gain and impedance matching is critical in a system of disparate components, so the flexibility afforded by the cary design is a definite plus |
I had a Rogue Audio preamp with 3 levels of switchable gain 3, 12 and 16db.
this proved to be very useful too. |
Taking the gain out of the equation led to a better sound to me, max it out. Then play with the control got volume. |
jjss49,
How big of an upgrade is the Et3se to the ET7 S2? |
