Hornshoppe "the Truth" preamp - any opinions?

Just got mine and can't wait to finally set it up and listen this weekend.  And glad to see that more 300b folks are using it (perhaps not surprising given some of the people extolling its virtues)...

@charles1dad  No pre-amp right now... just going direct from my PS Audio PW Dac.  Really looking forward to not throwing away resolution at under 50% volume (which is all low-volume listening). 

And thanks for the break-in suggestions... I'll put it up on a little desktop system tonight and at least let it play for 24 hours before getting it in the main system.

@charles1dad Also, not sure why my experience was so different from others with the Lyngdorf, but I didn't feel that I lost much switching from it to the PS Audio PWD (both used exclusively as source selection/volume control feeding my Franks).  The Lyngdorf had better bass, but also took away some soundstage and imaging precision.  Given the age of the PS Audio unit, I expected to lose a lot more than that.    

Honestly, once I took the Lyngdorf out of the system it just sat in the corner for two weeks waiting to be sold.  The only thing I genuinely missed during that time was the convenience of controlling the entire unit from any internet connected device.  Different systems, different ears I guess.  

@charles1dad I started listening to it at 36h and just got to 48 last night. Could still hear the sound smoothing out throughout the day. Wasn't able to do an a/b, but so far I'd say it sounds good.... not crazy better than direct though.

I'm also still breaking in my duelund capacitors (tinned copper casts)  too and am actually not sure I like them better than the stock solens so far. Probably just 150 hours on them so far. 

@charles1dad Thanks Charles... I was referring to the capacitors in the Franks. I haven't changed the ones in the PREs... not actually sure what's in there because they're wrapped with a thick coincident branded heat shrink.

@charles1dad I started to write a message on Thursday or Friday saying that I was going to to return the unit and spend the money elsewhere.  Then I came home and tried the silver input and it improved things quite a bit. I would not say that the improvement was revolutionary, but it's better than a direct connection, a smoother presentation with better bass.  It also spreads out the image a bit, which is impacting my ability to place instruments.  I think I can fix that by increasing the angle of my speakers though.  Have had visitors for most of the post-thanksgiving, so I've only been able to work very critically on the stereo a few times.

Unfortunately, adding the pre doesn't fix my low volume listening problem.  The Coincident PREs still fall apart at low volumes.  I had attributed that to distortion to the volume control on PWDac throwing away bits below 50% volume, but it appears that the speakers just need a certain amount of juice to come alive.  Disappointing that that wasn't fixable...  

Also, its clear that the pre-amp is still breaking in.  I've heard it change just over the weekend, as did everyone else in the house.

@charles1dad yes, I have one silver input and two coppers. Copper on both outputs.

I'll check my spl (just using an uncalibrated Android app unfortunately) tonight and see where things fall apart. Pulled it out last night and things were still good in the 60-70 range. 

I took the truth out of the path yesterday and it once again improved things to put it back in. I was kind of hoping that wouldn't be the case so I could put the money elsewhere, but it looks like it'll have to stay. 

@charles1dad  Regarding SPL levels... again, listening with peaks right around 70db (C-weighted) is very good, peaks in the 60s is good, and things start to fall apart when peaks are only in the 50s.  Perhaps that's not totally surprising given that my noise floor is 40dbs when it's "quiet" and around 45dbs when the fridge is running back in the kitchen.  

@exdmd I actually ended up returning my truth preamp. After a few weeks of trying different inputs and I went back to my source driving the amps directly and ended up liking it better. In the end, I decided the money was better spent elsewhere. Ed was a great person to work with though. 

Haven't tried any other preamps, although I do look around periodically. I should reach out to the Denver audio community and see if anyone wants to do some gear auditioning so I can see if one would actually improve my system enough to be worth it...

@grannyring  Hi Bill, what amp are you pairing the Truth with these days?  Curious where you're headed post Lyngdorf...

@grannyring Thanks for the update.  Wish we could all just share gear, I want to hear everything.  Damn distances.

@grannyring I was actually referencing the Clayton.  I had a Truth preamp, but for whatever reason didn't end up liking it all that much. Didn't really do anything wrong, but it wasn't the revelation it appears to be in other systems.  I ended up buying a Don Sach's 6SN7-based preamp and find that it improves everything about my source.  In pre-amp land, I'm still interested in trying Supratek and Backert Labs (and everything else, obviously).

Indeed. They don't call them systems for nothing.  So crazy how everything interacts.  

High quality discussion folks, thanks for all the thoughtful comments.