Melody SHW1688 anyone recommend it?

I would recommend it - after taking great advice from a fellow Audiogoner I am using it with the Audiopax Model 88 monoblocks and it is a wonderful combination. Very musical pre-amp with great tone and impact and without sacrificing detail - I also auditioned an Audiopax Model 5 but preferred the Melody - Melody also has high and low gain options. Build quality also excellent. I do think you need to be careful though as it is not the best preamp for all amps - see the 6 Moons review.

Excellent, excellent, excellent- it is my new preamp in my second system, build quality is superb, and very musical and full-bodied sound, yet with sufficient level of detail retrieval as well- the kind of preamp you can listen to all day...

I just purchased Melody SHW1688 Signature to try in my system. It has balanced in and balanced out and according to 6moons review, it goes great with push/pull amps. MBL9007 dual mono transistor amps I am going to use it with has 2.0V input sensitivity so there should not be a gain problem. I will get it in 10 days so I'll post my impressions.

DEQX is definitely not the way to go. My friend has both DEQX PDC 2.6 and TACT 2.2XP which do similar room correction function. DEQX is really a computer and sounds horrible unless you remain completely in digital mode such as between transport and a good DAC. Same applies to TACT 2.2XP. If you are going to use DEQX or TACT's analog output, I would have it modified by mauimods or aberdeen group to replace cheap power supplies and parts that are used on these devices.

My next step is to get TACT 2.2XP fully modded but only use in digital domain initially and see how good Anthony's mod of the Dac section is. It could possible replace my Theta Digital Generation VIII if it is good enough. We'll see.

Got side tracked a little but hopefully Melody preamp will balance out the sound of my system with virtues of tube sound.

Well I received the Melody SHW1688 Signature preamp. Wow, I can't sing enough praise for this fabuoous tube preamp. The reason I decided to get this preamp was a suggestion from my audiophile friend when I talked to him about my woes with hearing slight edgy electronic hint in the sound I'm hearing from my high end system that otherwise sounds absolutely fabulous. My system consists of Dynaudio Evidence Temptation speakers, MBL9007 reference dual mono amps being driven directly by Theta Digital Generation VIII dac with its built in preamp. Thinking it could be the cable, I tried various top end cables which helped tremendously: Tara Labs The One bi-wire speaker cables, HT Cyberlight P2A interconnects with custom regulated power supply, and NBS Statement power cords. Using Melody preamp, totally rid of the sight ege and electronic hint in my sound and totally made the presentation natural and musical with great emotional impact that totally absorbs you into the music. I can not be any happier with the move I made with this preamp. I was thinking of going with MBL6010 or Viola preamp but I am glad I didn't. Not only I save myself a great deal of money but I'm in bliss with the sound I get from this preamp.

Sterophile, seems Sutts over on the top 10 pre amp thread has similiar comments as your's. Look forward to getting this Melody.

One of my customers compared the 1688 and the ModWright and told me the later was better.
More balanced, faster with a better bass clarity.
He also told me that the 1688 was *a bit* edgy in the upper mids.