2. amps-preamps
  3. 182217-6478

Whats the ultimate goal with your pre amp ?

I have a great pre amp its a Pass labs XP-22. Its a great compliment to the rest of my gear-Pass 250.8-Pass XP-17 phono pre-VPI Prime Signature TT-Auralic Aries 2.1 Streamer- PS Audio Directstream MK2--Harbeth 40.2 Anniversaries.

My question is- At what point is a pre amp overkill ? Example- In terms of performance- How close does a Parasound JC-2 get to a Pass XP-22 ?

In my mind I want the Pre to be uncolored..silent...and have flexibility/with XLR's in and out. Does or should it cost 10K to achieve this ?

The point of this post is to gather opinions on what other audiophile thoughts are .

Thanks in advance for any and all opinions.

krelldog

Showing 1 response by yyzsantabarbara

yyzsantabarbara
4,573 posts
 

Do a 30-day home trial with your system and ears of the Benchmark LA4 preamp. Uncolored, XLR, pure silence from the tweeters, and the volume control is amazing. The volume control does click but that is a benefit for me since it has 256 steps.

Benchmark LA4 Line Amplifier - Benchmark Media Systems

The Benchmark website has had this disclaimer since 2019. They are selling a ton of them.

WE RECOMMEND PLACING AN ORDER BEFORE THESE ARE SOLD OUT. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD TO INCREASE OUR PRODUCTION, BUT DEMAND HAS BEEN GROWING RAPIDLY AND ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY.

I recently got a CODA #16 amp and paired with the LA4 is amazing. I just hear the beautiful sounding amp and my source.

BTW - I tried a $7.5K colored preamp with CODA, KRELL XD, Benchmark AHB2, Parasound A21+, Class D (and GAN), I always came back to the LA4. If the amp sounds good, then I want to hear that and not the preamp.

More to discover