Review: Alaap Audio (Doshi) Mark II Tube preamp

Category: Preamps

Welcome to this review. Since I began learning from the great participants and threads here on audiogon, I feel the most valuable decisions I've made in my system have not come from glossy mags and esteemed reviewers but from the folks here. In this same vein I hope to impart the experience I've had with this preamp.

It's important to know that in no way am I proffessional reviewer nor do I have any affiliation with the product or the designer, expect to say he's a great guy.

It's also important to know that I've had limited experience with preamps and have only listened to a handful in my short time being interested in good equipment. Therefore, I'm going to refrain from any comparisions and hope that those who also own the Doshi's out there can provide answer's to any questions that might pertain to "well how does it sound compared to..."

First the specs: This is a fulll function pre. It has 6 inputs, three for the phono section, two loaded for MC carts, one for MM carts. Phono input 1 is generally loaded to a switchable three position loading at 75ohms, 600ohms, and 2.5k ohms. I had Nick change the 75ohm setting to 100ohms to match my .24mv ZYX. So in many ways this is a custom pre. The other three inputs are an XLR female output that I run my CDP off of, then two RCA out's.

Tubes used for the 1st phono stage are 12AX7A. Tubes for the 2nd phono stage are 12AT7, and tubes used for line stage are 12BH7A. The line stage as very low output impedence easily driving low input values. I have not experimented with any tube rolling.

My listening tastes are all over the charts. It's hard to break it down into precentages. In one night I typically go from Neil Young, to Lucinda Williams, to Neko Case, to the Stones, to Norah Jones, to Billie Holiday, to Elvis, to Sonny Rollins, to Dexter Gordon, to Lightnin' Hopkins, to Johnny Lee Hooker, to Johnny Cash, to Dylan, to Beck, to... well you get the point.

I do look for an ease in presentation like I'm bathed in sound, yet I want music to have an emotional and dynamic force that makes me turn my head when I hear something. I want female vocals to be startling and the piano to be tonally correct.

I want micro and macro dynamics to be presented evenly but I tend to focus on the micro a bit more as a way to place the performers. I value as neutral a sound as I can achieve and use live music as a reference to determine coloration. Before I had the Doshi, I tended to listen at high volumes, but now feel like I get the emotional and visceral impact of the music at lower levels.

Associated gear
Amazon Reference
Triplanar VII
ZYX Atmos
Lectron JH50
Esoteric X-01 D2
Exactpower EP15A
Merlin VSW-mxe