i was inquiring with a company about a slp-05, he said dont get that, get atma sphere instead,which he also sold. said was better and cary was having problems with their gear. last how does cary, slp-05 vac, standard le. atma sphere mp1 i think and vtl 5-5 rank with and against each other...
Lol, the classic dealer-trashes-gear-he-doesn’t-sell trope. Extra trope-y if he frequently drops brands, and quickly turns from praise to bashing them too.
Atmasphere is a great brand btw - no issue there. But this stuff is so system and preference dependent. It’s one thing to go from a budget preamp to say a Cary SLP-05 or Atmasphere, or ARC Ref 6. That will usually yield a HUGE improvement most audiophiles can agree on ("giant killers" only live in the print of "professional" reviews). But when comparing units at this level, at some point you just gotta try the stuff for yourself. Nobody can tell you what you’ll enjoy most. Synergies and setup (including tube rolling, sometimes) is key.