I'm considering replacing my passive preamp with a tubes. Is it worth it?


I would like to know if it would be worth it to trade my passive preamp for tube.  Would the change make a significant improvement?  

My setup:

Magnepan MG .7
Mod Squad Line Drive passive preamp
Bryston 4b-st amp
Rythmik f12 sub
Bluesound Node
Tidal streaming

My budget on a preamp would be $1k.  If the answer is "yes" then opinions would be welcomed.

thanks



amritash

Showing 2 responses by lowrider57

The two preamps listed on Audiogon are highly rated for sonics and build quality.
But the Schiit is getting raves for its price and performance. Plus, you could run it balanced to your Bryston.
An active tube preamp would add timbre and texture to the sonics of your system, since each brand of tube offers a sonic signature. It may give you more flexibility on fine tuning the volume control since it has an active gain stage.

It is most important that the output impedance of the preamp be a good match for the amp. The amp’s input impedance needs to be 10-20X greater than the preamp’s output. That would allow for transients in the lowest and highest frequencies.