EAR vs Audio Note preamp

No one has heard either EAR or Audio Note or both ? Both of them are suppose to have a cult following. I have heard AN and really like it but it is an expensive brand to get into so I am also looking at EAR products (especially the preamp) but I have not heard any of their products.

Im very familiar with EAR but not Audio-Note. 

You might want to also consider Atma-Sphere Pre-Amps. These respond to tube rolling very well and the stock Chinese tubes provided have outclassed alot of the Solid state pre-amps i have compared them too. They are musical and very transparent at the same time.

Get Audio Note from Japan only about 30k used let me know when you get it.

Audio Note! I had a very upgraded and modified M3 at one time. Wish I still had it! AN gear makes music not just good sounds. Well worth the investment.

Robert Levi of Positive Feedback and The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society is of the opinion that the EAR 912 betters the Audio Research Reference 3. The EAR 868 contains the same design and circuits as the 912, but without the 912's faceplate, meters, and some controls. 868's don't come up for sale used very often, but when they do sell for around $4k.

I personally also favour Audio Note over EAR as a line stage. But when it comes to the internal phono stage I am not sure. EAR phono stages are well known and the 868/912 both carry the EAR's top phono implementation. By contrast the phono stage inside M5 phono would at best be their mid level implementation. Has anyone used Audio Note phono stages to give me some idea about their level of performances ?

My target preamp has changed a bit. I am still considering Audio Note M5 strongly but after a recent audition of some Audio Research gears I am also considering the ARC Ref 5 SE preamp. Audio Note vs Audio Research, M5 vs Ref 5 SE !!The amp that will be driven will most probably be a First Watt F6 so it is not a deciding factor as I see it. Anyone here with experience with both Audio Note and Audio Research preamp, please chime in.

Do you have a budget?

If you are considering an ARC Ref 5 maybe that's a dumb question... you do know that the ARC doesn't have a phono section, right?

I'm puzzled how it boiled down to these choices. Some others to consider: the CAT Signature, cj ART, perhaps the Cary SLP-05 all of which have good phono sections. I like to think we make good preamps too.

Ralph, if I go with ARC then I will get their Ref phono 2 too, it all still comes down to well within $15k (used) which is affordable

Speaking of Atma-Sphere pani, don't overlook Ralph's two full pre-amps. They're REAL good, and rather than discontinuing and replacing them every couple of years (ala ARC), he instead offers current owners updates. A MUCH better deal for owners, and a more honorable business model imo.

Unfortunately in the region I stay (Singapore) Atma-Sphere has very little presence. No dealers here, hardly anyone has any experience to share. So, it is a total shot in the blind for me. Else I would love to try a OTL tube preamp

Connoisseur Audio doesn't have one?

Thöress Integrated “Super” Preamplifier ... a versatile full-function tube preamplifier incorporating a state-of-the-art line control amplifier and a ground-breaking phono stage in one case. 

Just to correct a mistake above, the phono sections in the EAR 868P  preamplifier and 88PB phono stage are valve + FET designs, whereas the one in the  EAR 912 is all valve. All are so-called LCR designs which use an inductor rather than relying on series resistors and capacitors for RIAA correction, but the 912 does not use the same phono stage as the other two.There's a lot of misinformation out there on this but a look inside the box settles it.

I believe that is incorrect, @montesquieu. My 868L (line only) contains two 7DJ8 tubes, the 868PL (phono and line) contains an additional two 7DJ8's for RIAA amplification. 

No I’m absolutely correct. The 868PL is a tube-FET hybrid along with the inductor in the phono stage (four tubes, two each section) the 912 has five tubes and an all tube + inductor phono stage. The phono sections are different designs. 

To add, the SUT sections are different too, with four ratios rather than three ... though still marked 3, 6, (12) and 40 ohm the ratios in the 912 are higher, but can be attenuated 0, -6 and -12 dB via the intermediary transformer between phono and pre sections for even greater flexibility.

Not the same thing at all. 

I (and Art Dudley & Robert Levi) stand corrected, montesquieu! Do both use transformers to create their balanced outputs?

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.