I think your problem is that you do not have a good digital front end. A pre-amp cannot "find" digital data that has been thrown away by the digital to analog chip in a low grade processer that is found in most one-box cd players.Good d/a converters can now be purchased used for a fraction of their new cost. (You can also find used cd players with a digital output to use as a transport) This is what happens when you improve one component; it reveals the faults of the other components. This is why the audio hobby is so complex.
Is something wrong w/ my pre???
I recently purchased a Conrad Johnson PV10AL and hooked it up to a Yamaha MX-1 amp, Sony DVP7000 (temporarily serving as a CD player) and Paradigm minis. Sounded OK - that's it. Maybe this result was caused by the amp, CD player, &/or even speakers. Well, soon after this discovery I wanted to see if there were noticeable sonic differences between the CJ and a Yamaha A/V receiver I had. I did an A/B test between the CJ and receiver (pre-outs) -- everything else remained constant. Unfortunately, what I discovered after the tests was that no significant improvements could be heard when listening to the CJ preamp. In fact, differences were nearly inaudible. How could this be? Everything in the chain was the same when performing the test between the CJ vs. the Yamaha AV Receiver. How could there be hardly any difference? Could the tubes in the CJ be going bad??? Even with only 400 hrs playing time? Am I missing something here? I'm only seeking answers as to WHY there was hardly any difference.