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Do I need pre-amp? Upgrade amp or buy pre-amp? Audionote system

Hello everyone,

I have a strange question.. Tried googling, but found a number of various answers but still not to the point where all is clear.

Currently I own Audionote P3 Silver amplifier which has integrated volume control, play music through it without any pre-amp, sounds great, no issues. I was thinking to upgrade it to a better AN amp, but upgrade would cost around the same as a good pre-amp. My question is - do I upgrade to a better amp or purchase pre-amp and use it with current amp?

AN has Meishu line, which as I understand has a built in pre-amp, so theoretically, Meishu should sound better than P3 despite being same line just because it comes with integrated pre-amp?

Thanks!
128x128execine
jond's avatar
jond
5,687 posts
 
I agree with @tvad the M3 would be a good match and your P3 Silver is a great amp already. A Meishu Tonemeister may sound better but maybe not. I would definitely suggest posting your question here:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/strictly-for-fans-of-audio-note-uk.422880/

Lots of AN users and some dealers post there as well as Peter Q from time to time.
isochronism
2,893 posts
 
I would certainly consider upgrading to an Audionote Integrated. 
chilli42
107 posts
 
You might consider buying an integrated amp.  It will save money on interconnects and power cables and should be overall cheaper than a separate amp and preamp combination.  Take the savings and use it to buy a DAC for your Tidal streaming.
execine's avatar
execine OP
5 posts
 
that is also a possibility for sure! I have 3.1 Dac already :)
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,017 posts
 
I would go the integrated route...so many great choices out there now. Just need to start your research, but that is part of the fun. 
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