That Transformational piece of Gear We All Wish For

Glad to hear about the VK-80, I agree, I love the company, customer support, build quality and aesthetics, it’s a beautiful component. I hate to say this but the sound quality just doesn’t do it for me, in my setup it sounds too polite, errors of omission rather than commission. I can’t sell it because I want to love it, everything else is A+. I also have an Audio Research Reference 6 that I compare it to, possibly not a fair comparison due to price differences but when that gets swapped in, it wows me, big soundstage, dynamics, bass. A friend has the VK-80i integrated and that has to be one of the coolest looking integrateds on the market. He loves it and I’m tempted to sell the preamp to try the intergated. Associated components are KEF Reference 1 Meta, KEF Reference 3 non-meta, Benchmark AHB-2, Benchmark LA-4, Luxman 595, Aurender N200, Bricasti M3, Eversolo A8, HoloAudio Cyan2, Parasound JC-5. 

Yeah, bought it brand new direct, I even talked to Steve and he said let it break in more, has about 500 hours. I am a believer in system synergy and I do go through a lot of gear but haven’t found the right combination where it fits in well. It certainly doesn’t sound bad but isn’t exciting, soundstage is smaller than Ref 6, bass and dynamics are lighter weight. I even tried it with a 255SE power amp and the amp had a similar sonic profile. Maybe I need a Rex 500!

I did the trade in program through music direct, which I believe owns BAT, and it was built to order and shipped direct. I can’t imagine there are large QC differences unit by unit. Maybe my expectations are off, I’ve compared it to the Ref 6, Benchmark LA-4 and Denafrips Athena. As far as power cables, I’m using Cullen Cable, well built, reasonably priced, I’ve owned a handful of different brands and I’m not sure I can tell a difference with power cables. The next preamp on my list is an Atma-Sphere MP-3, very interested to try one of those. 

OK, the Ref6 came out and the VK-80 went in tonight all other components left unchanged.  The soundstage and overall feel of the 80 is still “smaller” but it comes across more tonally accurate and micro details are more present. The imaging is more precise in that the images are more laid back and smaller but better defined in space with sharper edges. In comparison, the Ref6 may be a bit extra in its presentation, sometimes too much bass in my setup, it is more forward and sounds big but the 80 is more refined and engaging depending on the track. In summary, I like both and can’t sell them, Such is the insanity of this hobby. Thanks all for a good conversation.