preamp for dartzeel amp?

...i have had many preamps and my current 'first sound'.preamp..linestage only..paramount mk ii ..designed by emanual go ..is ..by far..the best i have had..he makes 9..i think..models from about $6k new to $28k ..they are tubed with separate outboard power supplies and completely separate internal rt and lt channel hardware.go to their website...good luck

get a rowland consummate. i know it's old and cheap, but it sounds beautiful as well as detailed. it just doesn't thrust the music at you. just make sure it has the upgraded (most recent) line stage modules, which are far superior to the originals. also, you can pop the lid and adjust input and output impedences, gain, etc. without tools or solder. plus it's fully balanced from input to output.
if that isn't quite good enough you could get a synergy 2i,
with a third of the features and flexibility, but an aircraft aluminum case.
otoh, i am so opinionated these days maybe i shouldn't even suggest this considering the dartzeel is an $18K amplifier. but from EVERYTHING i've heard and read, the dart and the older rowland gear seem to be designed to do very similar things.
if the dartzeel preamp came two ways- with and without the phono stage you could probably afford it. but they make two products and are probably not going to make a third in the forseable future. which must be very frustrating for those who want monoblocks with at least 200W into 8ohms, or
a linestage, or a standalone phono stage. with all due respect to the musicality of their stuff, perhaps way to much ink is being spilled about them while other companies are making components that are just as good...hell, you could buy an old pass aleph amplifier and go nuts over how tubelike it sounds (couldn't you??)
...just my 2 euro's worth...

I tested darTZeel with NAGRA PL-P. It was so amazing.

hey mike, from what i've heard in my own system, the preamp section in the dcc2 is excellent and will take some bucks to beat. what are you looking to add, or conversely, what do you feel is missing?

French_fries: I figured I might help clarify things a bit.

The darTZeel preamplifier comes as it does, with phonostage because most people who use darTZeel equipment also have a vinyl rig in their systems. Reality is that if darTZeel made a separate phonostage and a separate linestage the set would be quite a bit more costly for those who wanted to use vinyl. Think of the added expense of the extra chassis, power supply, etc.

Also the phono section is relatively inexpensive to incorporate once the linestage and it's chassis and power supply are already built. Simply, you are just adding the boards and connectors that are necessary for those inputs.

As the distributor, how I wanted the preamplifiers configured was my call. I looked at the cost of with and without phonostage and considered how many customers I know use vinyl and I still feel that the correct choice was made.

As far as your statement: "perhaps way to much ink is being spilled about them while other companies are making components that are just as good...hell, you could buy an old pass aleph amplifier and go nuts over how tubelike it sounds (couldn't you??)"

That statement would most probably be much different if you actually heard the darTZeel amp and preamp with your VR9's. :)

All the best to you!

Jonathan Tinn
Blue Light Audio
Proud Distributor of darTZeel