EAR vs Audio Note preamp

Yes both use output transformers a tim de p speciality. 

I know I’m very late on this thread but I thought it may help someone else looking for either of these brands, or others. I have an EAR 912 and it is a stellar performer. It’s mind boggling how many other preamplifier and phono stages I’ve had but all mentioned in this thread have been in my system at some point or another. Audio Note preamplifiers sound very organic and “right” but AN does not believe in wide sound stages outside of the speakers that I consider to be mandatory. AN believes it isn’t real and not true to the real source. It’s a shame because the AN pieces I’ve owned are wonderful, some of the best I’ve had but sound too limited in terms of expansiveness of the stage in front of me. They are good front to back but not in width. EAR’s presentation is amazing in all facets where ARC
Ref preamplifiers and others I’ve owned miss the organic side of the music and sound lean or thin in comparison... Just my two cents!

I own the EAR 864, 912 (and a phono pre 324). For both preamps, phono is the primary value to them. The line stages with rolled tubes and fuses, high end power cabling sounds much better than stock. HOWEVER, both have 1990s Tim designs lacking true power regulation although he thought his cheapo method would work (it did in the 1990s). Then nasty power for most people occurred with computer and phone line, internet use dirtied up power coming into people’s homes. For those who live in hot regions where A/C is essential (like the Southwest in the middle of summer), the power is either corrupted and/or inadequate to supply proper clean voltage regulated power. These two preamps suffer during peak use hours and sound bad. Then by nightfall after 10pm or 12 am, the preamps bloom again and sound great for phono and okay for line stage.

To alleviate and elevate the sound, my friends and I use a Tripplite voltage regulator for the EAR preamps. That helps both day and night. However, I then unplugged it when using another preamp as something in the big transformer muddied the sound.

I have since switched to a more expensive premap with SOTA DAC, the Lampizator Poseidon. It has a very superior soundstage and regulated power supply. It also elevates the sound of the 912 phono with RCA outs to the Poseidon. I will be experimenting with a solid state EAR 324 phono preamp to see whether it requires an SUT (Zesto Alessis) or not and if it does or doesn’t have a power regulation problem like the tubed preamps.