Don Sachs DS2 vs Wells Audio Commander

Love that LTA – beautiful. My Don Sachs does have an HT Bypass, but he no longer offers them.

With that pre why are you even looking around? The Sachs seems like an end-game level preamp — at least IMHO — unless you’re willing/able to spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

I'm quite fond of the DS2. The only complaint I have is there is an audible noise floor if I put my head up to the speakers. Which really is a non-issue.

The reason I'm curious about the Commander is that I had both a Don Sachs KT88 (MSRP $3800) and Wells Audio Innamorata II (MSRP $7000), and the Wells Audio barely edged out the Don Sachs.

It misses some the tube magic – for sure – but it is slightly more articulate without being fatiguing. And since it's solid state, I can leave it on during the day without concern of burning out tubes.

So I've thought of the Wells Audio Commander for a while, and I'm not sure if there's really a benefit to moving to the Commander / another preamp... of if yes, I am at the inflection point of diminishing returns with my current setup.

i love the ds pre as well, but agree that there is a little tube noise, the unit is sensitive to that... need to work at the tube selection to get very quiet tubes... but worth the trouble i think the unit sounds exceptionally good

It misses some the tube magic – for sure – but it is slightly more articulate without being fatiguing. And since it's solid state, I can leave it on during the day without concern of burning out tubes.

Yeah, therein lies the rub, eh?  Probably why running a tube pre with SS amp is so popular.  If possible you might want to look at a Class-A amp that IME does about the best job of blurring the lines between tubes and SS.  Something like the Clayton Audio S100 is really nice because it does that but has a high/low bias switch so if you want to leave it on 24/7 the electric bill doesn’t take such a large hit.  FWIW...