Rost,
Read Fremer's review in latest Stereophile. He said it maybe the most neutral and best sounding stage he's ever heard or a least in the top five. The letter from Einstein in the back was also very informative about the design criteria and rigid quality standards they adhere to.
Suggest you read the review if your serious about purchasing one. I would have definitely bought the balanced version if my Schroeder arm lended itself to be easily changed over to balanced wiring. If your arm can be easily modified and you can afford it, go for the balanced version.
A requirement, you must keep the power supply about 2 feet away from the preamp for the best performance according to the mfg. I didn't notice any hum when it was close, but the sound did improve and the already low noise floor got even lower by moving it away. The balanced has 2 ps's and they should be on opposite sides of the preamp, I am told for best performance. This performance improvement was confirmed to me by the owner of the balanced version.
I am in process of running the hours up to 600 with a Thor phono break in unit to get the sound improvement that's supposed to occur. If your interested in results, let me know and I will make another post in a few weeks when it's done.
Read Fremer's review in latest Stereophile. He said it maybe the most neutral and best sounding stage he's ever heard or a least in the top five. The letter from Einstein in the back was also very informative about the design criteria and rigid quality standards they adhere to.
Suggest you read the review if your serious about purchasing one. I would have definitely bought the balanced version if my Schroeder arm lended itself to be easily changed over to balanced wiring. If your arm can be easily modified and you can afford it, go for the balanced version.
A requirement, you must keep the power supply about 2 feet away from the preamp for the best performance according to the mfg. I didn't notice any hum when it was close, but the sound did improve and the already low noise floor got even lower by moving it away. The balanced has 2 ps's and they should be on opposite sides of the preamp, I am told for best performance. This performance improvement was confirmed to me by the owner of the balanced version.
I am in process of running the hours up to 600 with a Thor phono break in unit to get the sound improvement that's supposed to occur. If your interested in results, let me know and I will make another post in a few weeks when it's done.