I had the LS25 MkI and it was good, but had a veil on it compared to the LS26 I owned for the past couple years. I loved the LS26; ARC's philosophy goal is to capture the best of solid state; the detail, speed, dynamics and low noise floor with the positives of tubes; more three dimensional sound stage, more air and bloom around the notes. If you want a tubey sound, there are other manufacturers to give you that. I jumped the Ref 3 and went to Ref 5 and it is light years above the LS26, but for the price it should be! With many audionuts upgrading I think I'd jump to the Ref 3 from the LS25 MkI; your urge to upgrade will be less!
Has anyone Upgraded their ARC preamp
I'm currently running an ARC Ls-25 and I'm thinking about upgrading to a Ref-3. The only problem is I have never heard one. I have heard the MKII version of my pre-amp and I didn't like it. I also heard the LS-26 was very mechanical and not musical. Is the Ref-3 a very musical pre-amp. I don't want to sell my pre-amp and then be disappointed.