Response34,
I can honestly say, and it was very surprising to me, that I do not miss my beloved VTL tube preamp in my audio chain. Everything sounds just as sweet to me going without it.
To be fair, however, I made a lot of changes to my system at the same time. I replaced an older Sony DVP-7700 DVD/CD player with the clearly superior Oppo 105. I also began going directly from the Oppo into my main class D amp via xlr cables versus my former path of the Sony to the VTL and out to my amp via rca cables. At the same time, I also took advantage of the Oppo's hi-res capacity by integrating computer audio into my system. This consists of a laptop running JRiver Media Center software, a Synology NAS that now contains my entire CD collection along with a handful of 24 bit/96khz FLAC and WAV downloaded files and the Oppo 105 as the digital media renderer/player. The stored music files are now sent wirelessly to the Oppo for digital to analog conversion via its very good Saber dacs. The analog signal outputs directly to my amp via xlr cables, eliminating the preamp from the audio chain.
Because of the above, I find it difficult to isolate a system change that has resulted in my system currently sounding so good. I never thought I'd even consider taking the excellent VTL, with NOS Mullard tubes, out of my system. But I had to trust my ears and the extreme 'in the room' illusion I'm now enjoying with my music. In truth, there are probably multiple factors involved with giving me such good results; better recorded/engineered source material, elimination of a component from the audio path, better dacs, better input and output stages and a lower noise floor.
Ultimately, I really don't care if I never know the predominate cause since I'm thoroughly enjoying just listening to my existing and new music so much right now.
I'm not advocating that anyone should give up their tubed preamp, I'm just encouraging members to let the results and musical presentation guide their choices.
Enjoy,
Tim
