3 great tube preamps. Which would you purchase?

I will chime in with the other devotees for Don Sachs' preamp.  I got the third or forth one he built which was recently sent back to him for the latest, and likely final, upgrades.  It is beyond question the finest preamp I have ever had in my system and that included oodles of SS and tube preamps. It is simply the most revealing and luminous preamp I have ever had.  In terms of performance vs. cost, Don's preamp is fantastic.  

Forget about balanced outputs.  If they were meaningful, Don would design his preamp for them, but he feels RCA outputs are perfectly fine.  By the way, I bought his KT88-based amp a few months ago and it is absolutely breathtaking in its ability to present a holographic soundstage, yet with excellent extension in both the LF and HF... the mid-range of course is also wonderful. I bet Don against it when I contemplated the purchase of it, arguing the my Platinum-upgraded McCormack DNA .05 SS amp would have much more LF control, but when I had a chance to audition Don's amp to the McCormack amp, it took all of 30 seconds to realize the excellence of the Don's amp in comparison.  Tonally, both are excellent, but Don's amp presents the 3-D soundstage whereas the McCormack sounds decided 2-D.  Their is magic in tube and the place to start with with the preamp! 

I have known Don for nearly 12 years.  He upgraded my HK C-1, C-2 and C-V, but decided he would significantly improve upon their performance.  He has clearly succeed.  Yes, he could have used the TOTL Dueland caps in his preamp and added $1000 to cost of the preamp, but he tirelessly researched the market and discovered, to his ears, even better Polish caps for a 1/5th the price.  

Don truly hit the mark in terms of price vs performance and you would be well advised to acquire one of this preamps.  I am pretty sure that you could spend 3-4X times the price of his preamp and not be more satisfied with the sound.  Cheers, Whitestix

Turning into a great thread here...

Lots of supporters of Don Sachs. Always great to hear all opinions. Even the gentleman whom suggested to change my amp. Though brutally honest. I respect that. It’s all subjective.

Just heard back back from LTA. They state the clicking noise is audible when adjusting volume. Though not in a fatiguing way. Much more subtle, then one would assume. Only way is to audition. Though at their price of admission?

@bluorion — indeed we are going in similar directions. The PS Audio Dac seems to be a mainstay at the moment in many homes. I’m curious about Ayre Acoustics Dac’s line up. Ayre might even top the PS Dac you’re considering. Both have great resell value.

I’m quite content with Bel Canto’s 3.7.
24/192 works for me. Yes there’s dsd pcm mqa etc... Let’s see whom will be the victor? Though that all goes back to FIRMWARE updates. Which drives me nuts. Be it firmware updates for your electronics, or your computer’s OS, or the program to convert dsd pcm mqa. Arghhhhh. That just exhausts me thinking of going in that direction. Firmware updates have a remarkably awesome way of mucking everything up. Yeah.. how’s that smartphone holding up????

My dining room/living room is L shaped. So I’m dealing with a little bit of a acoustic challenge. The ref 500s and the Special 40’s in my opinion pair well. Especially for my dwellings. They do need 200 wpc for them to really open up. I’m curious about floor standing speakers though with a 14’ x 12’ x 17’ listening area - anything else would probably be too intrusive.

This will hopefully be one of the last rounds for a while obtaining new equipment. Then the phono amp. Eventually. Thank you Pass Labs for making a great photo stage. Done deal.

From this thread, and some comprehensive reading, emails from various manufacturers whom provided detailed information pertaining to my questions it’s all boiling down to:

Don Sachs Model 2. It does have xlr inputs. Though not truly balanced inputs. The same pertains to the LTA pre amp. You can attain true balanced inputs. Though I would assume at a heavy premium with LTA. Or Sachs for that matter.

Which brings me to Herron VTSP-3A. They are going for about 3,500 on average used. Granted it’s no longer their top tier preamp. Though it’s priced right between a brand new LTA, and a top tier Don Sachs.

LTA, new goes for about 4,500
Don Sachs model 2 with all of the upgrades about 2,700 - or around that ballpark.

Hopefully I can pick up a used VTSP-3A. If not. There are some great alternatives listed on this thread, that I would not hesitate....

Cheers,

Jay

Bel Canto dealer here**** 

A few more options that I think are a great match with your amp for what you are looking for:

Rogue RP-7

PS Audio BHK Pre

And if you decide you can live without having balanced, the Rogue RP-5 would be about perfect for you.


I've heard great things about the Don Sachs units (and I have at least one customer running one of their pre's) but I've not had the chance to hear one with any BC amps.

Jay - You can not go wrong with the VTSP-3A or any of Mr. Herron's gear for that matter. When you move forward with a phono pre, the Herron VTPH-2A is the answer! Cheers