I own The Truth and it is just fantastic. I does take a full week of playing 24/7 to break in and sound its best. At first it was a tad closed in, overly warm and a little dull sounding. After some 150 hours of play time this unit has just amazed me. So utterly balanced top to bottom with absolutely no glare or vestige of noise.
My unit does not have a selector as I only use one input. I cannot stress enough or even overstate how revelatory this piece is.
I have owned many top end active preamps costing up to $9000 new. I have built some great tube preamps and upgraded/modified quite a few good ones over the years. I have also owned the Placette, Lightspeed and Tortuga passives. These passives showed promise, but always left me wanting as they lacked body or meat on the bones weight. The Truth has all of it and is certainly the best Preamp have heard to date.
Just be patient with break-in and enjoy. Ed offers a trial period and the unit costs less than most high end cables :) |
Well @thaluza that is a great question. It sure does not need any upgrades to please me, but every piece of gear I own has my signature somewhere in it. Ha!
Not much to do as the design is simple and so unique. I plan to wire the input and output with Neotech silver/gold wire as I love the sound of it. I will also upgrade the RCA jacks and IEC to Furutech.
I will wire up the power supply with Duelund Polycast stranded and tinned copper wire. I plan to replace the eight 470uf 35v Nichicon HV caps with the wonderful Audio Note Kaisei.
That would be it. Will it really improve on an already great unit? I think it will a bit. The cost is reasonable.
No rush. I will enjoy it as is. I will put some nice wooden knobs on the front to make it look high end 🙂
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I have a Clayton Audio S40 pure class A amp. Sensitivity to full volume is 1.3v so a great match with The Truth.
@thaluza Vampire makes some very good rca jacks for only $35 or so per set on sale. I am also thinking of direct soldering my ICs and bypassing the RCAs. |
I will not touch the caps per Ed’s advice. Just the wire and RCA jacks. Ed is pretty adamant that changing out the caps will make no difference based on his testing and design. I must say the unit sounds wonderful so I will trust his comments.
The unit is really a unique system that no other preamp is like. It is a unique design and Ed is rightly proud of it.
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Charles, After trying many amps with the Lyngdorf I found one that bettered the 2170 as a stand alone unit. The Clayton amp. I love this amp. If offered more dynamic impact, improved natural tone, greater bass and mid bass foundation as well as a seductive, warm and inviting presentation that hooked me.
Adding The Truth just sounded even better. It stripped away all noise and is so even handed. The combo is a joy to listen to relaxing my ears and mood 😊 |
Cal3713, Ed offers a trial period and you can play with one. No caps, resistors or volume control in the signal path! The balance control is not in the signal path!
The selector switch is, but I don’t have a selector Switch as I only need one input. |
@t_ramey. My unit has remote. The volume changes very little from start all the way up to say 11 o’clock on the dial. The volume then ramps up quickly from 11:30-1:30 where most of the volume increase takes place. While this is a pretty narrow range the remote allows slight increases in volume making it very useable. I have no issues with it. Once you get used to how it responds you will have no trouble setting it to volume you want. It is not stepped, but a nice smooth continuous pot. |
I see. Seems synergy with the amp is key. Input sensitivity plays a role in this for sure. |
I just finished upgrading the rca jacks, iec, adding Soundcoat damping throughout and Duelund tinned, stranded copper wiring. I have to say the improvement was very noticeable. I was not sure it would make that much of a difference, but it really has. Based on this I am going to upgrade the SMPS to a nice LPS.
Improved openness and resolution with better imaging and larger stage size. This improvement is easy to hear within minutes. |
I had a very fun time comparing two first class preamps. My modified Truth preamp vs Coincident Statement preamp. Both sound fantastic! I listened to both over some 10 hours. Here are the details of each unit.
Coincident Statement Line-stage: Upgraded Psvane WE tubes, SR Black fuse.
The Truth - SR Black fuse, separate chassis dual linear power supply for the +/- 15vdc. The dual LPS powers each buffer board separately. I used a nice over-spec’d RCore tranny. All internal wire and umbilical cord made with Duelund tinned and stranded copper wire. Upgraded Vampire RCA jacks. All 8 caps on the buffer boards upgraded to Audio Note Kaisei. Soundcoat dampening in both chassis units.
I find my upgraded Truth superior to stock after carefully listening step by step along the upgrade path. I did not do it all at once. The upgraded unit is simply better sounding in every sonic parameter important to me. Purity, natural tone, dynamics, stage size, ease and control when turned up, bass impact as well as mid-bass weight and body.
The Coincident preamp is a wonderful sounding preamp. It took me by surprise the first few hours as I did not expect this level of greatness. It is so beautiful sounding with a delicate airy sound that at the same time is dynamic and lively. Tone is spot on and the weight and body from the lower bass to mids was intoxicating even at lower to moderate listening levels. Notes seemed to hang on forever in a good way. I love this preamp! I did not want to take it out of my system. Easily one of the very best preamps I have ever heard. It reminded me of how important a preamp is to a great system. It just pulls it all together.
My Truth preamp was slightly different sounding, but just as enjoyable. The Truth had faster and better defined bass. The tone and purity were perhaps a tad better than the Coincident. It was close however. The Truth is certainly quieter both operationally and musically. It has a spooky absence of noise one doesn’t realize is there with other preamps. The Coincident served up more mid bass weight and body that I found quite satisfying. I do know The Truth imparted less coloration here, but I have to admit l liked this coloration!
I had a moderate ground loop hum that I could not remedy with the Coincident that was certainly annoying. Too bad really. I also found the volume knobs clunky feeling and lacking in the ability to fine tune volume level. Needs more steps! I think the attenuator system was improved in the latest version. Love to hear one of these!
Which one did I prefer? Both! I love both. I will keep my Truth and not buy Coincident for reasons of practicality. I play music 10-12 hours per day and tubes may not be the best option. I was reminded of the often times finicky or fussy nature of tube gear with the ground loop hum that I found annoying. The Truth is as quiet as a mouse. The Truth is just easier on my ears. Very hard to put this in words folks. Music sounds less forced and just “happens” before you with my Truth. My Truth sounds so good that I can’t let it go, but if I cheated on her it would be with the Coincident Statement!
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Bill I have to think the Coincident Statement Pre with the Coincident Frank amps would be heaven! I should also add the build quality of the Coincident gear is high. The point to point wiring is laid out superbly on both the amps and preamp. Why did I get a ground loop? Goodness who knows. |
T-ramey. I have owned all 3 versions of the TRL Dude. In addition, with the help of Paul the designer, I built a super Dude tricked out with all the best parts. Recently, I build my own version of the Dude with some differences, but much more in common with Paul’s design.
I had the opportunity to compare the Coincident Statement to my Super Dude in a system including Paul’s TRL Samson SS monoblock amps. In this system the Dude really outshone the Coincident in all sonic aspects. But, please hear me on this, this was the case in this one system with the Dude having great synergy with the TRL amps and TRL cabling. Synergy is everything with our systems!
When hearing the Coincident Statement in my current system I was completely floored based on the above first experience with the Coincident preamp. In my current system the Coincident Statement was simply gorgeous. I don’t have a Dude to compare in my current system, however I am confident both preamps would sound great with subjective preferences determining which preamp one would rather have. When gear gets this good it always comes down to preferences and system synergy. Also, as Brownsfan said, the tubes used really impact the sound of the Coincident line stage. He has the very best tubes in the unit I listened to.
Based on my history with the Dude I can tell you the Coincident delivers a more airy and refined top end with a tad more midrange beauty. The Dude is more dynamic and throws a larger stage combined with a greater sense of ease when pushed. The Dude energizes a room like no other preamp I have ever heard. The Coincident delivers beautiful tonality and a sustained decaying of notes top to bottom that is arresting. The Truth offers remarkable purity and the complete absence of noise that takes getting used to. At first you think you are missing something, but over time you realize that noise and additional artifacts are now missing. Over time it’s hard to give this up!
Soon I plan on building another tube preamp based on the Dude, but with a look towards the beauty of the Coincident. I think there are things that can be done and we will see. |
That is what I mean about lack of noise. I am not referring to buzz or hum or other annoying noises, but noise in the music that obscures details and purity. When noise is reduced transparency improves greatly! |
That is what I mean about lack of noise. I am not referring to buzz or hum or other annoying noises, but noise in the music that obscures details and purity. When noise is reduced transparency improves greatly! |
20 gauge 600v Polycast everywhere including grounds. The 20 gauge in cotton for the RCA in and outs. |
