![]() The RH-5 measures 15" wide by 4" high by 13.5" deep and weighs 19 lb. Rogue's RH-5 preamp and headphone amplifier, which I reviewed in November 2017, used a less-geezer-friendly VFD display. One of my favorite things about the Rogue RP-7 is that I can easily read its azure-tinted OLED display from 9' away. Like Rogue's Stereo 100 power amp, the RP-7 barely sounded as if it was running on tubes. It didn't flood the First Watt with second harmonic. Which worked quite nicely.īest of all, the RP-7 sounded drier than the PrimaLuna. However, because the RP-7 is fully balanced, I could run the HoloAudio Spring "Kitsuné Tuned Edition" Level 3 DAC (which has no volume control) into one of the RP-7's balanced inputs and pick up another 3dB of gain. That's greatbut the SIT-3 has only unbalanced input jacks (RCA). But unlike the PrimaLuna, the RP-7 is also a fully balanced design, in which mode it delivers 20dB of gain. In single-ended mode, the RP-7 sports 14dB of gainonly slightly more than the PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium. That was all before the Rogue RP-7 preamplifier ($4995) entered my system. If I use low-sensitivity speakers eg, Harbeth P3ESRs or Magnepan. The PrimaLuna has only 12dB of gain, which means that it and the SIT-3 provide a total gain of only 23.5dBwhich leaves me about 10dB shy of a well-managed, sparkly-dynamic condition. This slight dullness is caused not only by the SIT-3's unusually high (for a solid-state amp) component of second-harmonic distortion (it has no feedback), but also by its unusually low gain of 11.5dB (most power amps have at least 25dB). Unfortunately, when I use the PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium preamp with my newly beloved First Watt SIT-3 amplifier, the sound becomes a little too flushed with second-harmonic distortion, resulting in a tiny amount of dark murkiness that's most noticeable in orchestral climaxes. This unusual hybrid system of tubed and solid-state separates gives Harbeth's Monitor 30.2 speakers satisfying balances of yin/yang, masculine/feminine, disegno/colorito. The PrimaLuna's tubes add a touch of feminine flush and glow, generating deeper reproductions of the sounds of recording venues, more distinct voices, and richer timbreswhile the supertransparent Pass XA25 grips the speakers more firmly than the ProLogue Premium amp. Lately, I've spent a lot of time with a PrimaLuna preamp feeding the solid-state Pass XA25. Occasionally I go all solid-state, with Pass Laboratories' HPA-1 preamp and headphone amp, and either Pass's XA25 amp or the Bel Canto e.One REF600Ms.īut what I like best of all is a tubed preamp driving a solid-state power amp. In my floor system I prefer to experience the texture and vivid intimacy of tubed gearsuch as Rogue's RH-5 headphone amp/preamp driving their own Stereo 100 amplifier (100Wpc, KT120 tubes) or PrimaLuna's ProLogue Premium preamp driving their own ProLogue Premium amp (35Wpc, E元4 tubes). That is a huge audio system responsibilityso huge that most audiophiles, especially those whose only source component is a computer, are delighted to abandon separate preamps. Likewise, the sound character of every amp and speaker I connect to it. The sound quality of every source component is affected and established by the sound quality of this single active device. This system is not anchored by a newfangled, multipurpose device like the Mytek Brooklyn instead, its core component is an old-school, line-level preamplifier I rely on for selecting sources, adjusting volume, and, most important, setting the entire system's gain, tone, and temper. My bulkier, more elaborate floor system employs a modified Home Depot rack as a totem and a variety of moderately priced cables as fetish objects. I mostly use this system with headphones, but currently, the Brooklyn's line-out feeds a pair of Bel Canto Design's compact e.One REF600M monoblocks driving the shelf-mounted Dynaudio Excite X14 speakers I use to play movies and videos. One of the Brooklyn's two line-level inputs delivers NPR news and baseball from my Kenwood KT-990D FM/AM tuner. Through this system I play high-resolution files and Internet sources (Tidal, Qobuz, Netflix, and YouTube). The core component of my beloved, daily-driver desktop system is a Mytek Brooklyn DAC-preamp-headphone amp. I maintain two separate audio reviewing systems. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |