Primare Pre30 vs. the Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE Preamp


Has anyone listened and compared head to head the Primare Pre30 and the Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE Pre-Amplifier's? Which
one is the better performer?
audiozen

Showing 2 responses by dellafago

I don't know W4S pre which I only heard good thintgs about. But I know primare pre-30 which I bought it a week ago and now it is on sale. Briefly, Pre 30 has no warmth,no dynamics, no detail. It basically sucks in everything. I bought it to replace my benchmark dac1 usb which I use as both dac and pre (by the way my set-up consists of a pair of cary cad 500 mb monoblocs driving Usher 8871s) and it did not last too long to decide to put the primare on sale. Benchmark is by far better. I'm still searching for a new pre not because I don't like b.mark, but because I want to add my turntable to the chain as I could not be able to since I switched from integrated amp to power amp set-up. I wish I could find a Wyred4Sound stp-se pre in Turkey, but there is no dealer here in Turkey. If I cannot wait, maybe I will replace my dac with hdr model, but tthe only thing that keeps me is that hdr does not have an aes-ebu input which I would prefer connect my cec 51x transport through its aes output.
Dear Audiozen,

Maybe hard to believe but the best preamp I listened to so far is benchmark. I tried many of them in the last couple of months and most recently I borrowed a 15.000 usd. mark levinson no.32 reference pre. The result; I definately prefer benchmark over it. The sound of m.lev was again dry, tiny, small with much less detail. Anyway, at least I realized that preamp is a very critical equipment and if you are happy with a certain model, it better not to look elsewhere. At the end of the day, I decided to stick with benchmark. But I think I will replace my usb model with a hdr model as the hdr offers an analog input for my t.table plus a remote control function.