Bill, thanks for your careful A/B of my Coincident CSL with your Truth. A couple of comments for those trying to decide between these two fine choices. In my system, I am not currently hearing any ground loop issues. The Coincident is driving my Atma-Sphere M-60 amps via 10 M balanced ICs. Anyone who is looking for a great pre that will drive long ICs would do well to consider the CSL. I did have a ground loop issues when the Coincident CSL was driving Coincident Frankenstein amps, but engaging the ground lift switches on the amps largely eliminated the issue. I have a feeling the CSL behaves better using balanced in and balanced out than with single ended. Getting the most out of the CSL is all about the tubes. The Psvane WE replicas really elevate the performance of this preamp. It is a completely different beast with these tubes vs the Psvane Hi-Fi or Shuguang tubes. The volume controls are indeed clunky. One should expect better for a piece in this price range. I may send mine back for the upgrade to MK II. There are times when a finer gradation between steps would be nice. As far as tube life, I got about 4 years out of my first set of WE's. I bought my current set from Coincident. Mr. Blume selects tubes that match the demands of the CSL, which he claims extends the expected lifetime.
Hornshoppe "the Truth" preamp - any opinions?
"The Truth" changes the paradigm in Reference Line Stages, literally. Its existence has even forced me to remove a "Direct Connection" in "Class A", because such a choice no longer makes any rational sense to me. In the end, "The Truth" is effectively a "direct connection" with no sonic downsides, and with the ability to drive any amplifier load and/or length of cable, while allowing any source to be heard at its very best. With the exception of extra gain, an audiophile can't ask for more than that. I realize that this may all sound "too good to be true", but it isn't.
-- Arthur Salvatore http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Linestages.html
This is high praise indeed, he likes it better than Coincident's Line Stage which is saying something, was wondering if someone else has heard it and compared it to other active line stages (am a big believer in active, though currently using AMR DP-777 DAC as my pre)
-- Arthur Salvatore http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Linestages.html
This is high praise indeed, he likes it better than Coincident's Line Stage which is saying something, was wondering if someone else has heard it and compared it to other active line stages (am a big believer in active, though currently using AMR DP-777 DAC as my pre)