Solid State Preamp Reviews

Mark Levinson No.38S preamplifier

John Atkinson Apr 24, 2009 First Published: Jul 24, 1995

Even as Robert Harley was writing his Stereophile reviewhttp://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/mark_levinson_no38_preamplifier…; of the $3995 Mark Levinson No.38 remote-controlled line preamplifier (it appeared in August '94, Vol.17 No.8, p.98), Madrigal Audio Laboratories announced an upgraded, cost-no-object version, the No.38S (footnote 1). At $6495, the 'S is significantly more expensive than the junior version; although it uses the same chassis, power supply, and circuit topology, it's in all other ways a different preamplifier.

Solid State Preamp Reviews

Mark Levinson No.38 preamplifier

Robert Harley Apr 03, 2009 First Published: Aug 03, 1994

High-end audio companies take different approaches to staying successful. One way to maintain a market position is to continue improving fundamental designs, offering a little higher sonic performance with each model. The latest products from a company employing this approach will look and operate very much like their first products.

Solid State Preamp Reviews

Threshold T2 preamplifier

Steven Stone Apr 03, 2009 First Published: Jul 03, 1995

Threshold is one of the longest-surviving high-end audio companies. Founded in the 1970s by Nelson">http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/1191pass">Nelson Pass and René Besne, it was acquired by a large, publicly traded corporation in 1988. This had both positive and negative results in that Threshold was then able to expand its activities, adding the cost-effective Forté line of products, but energies were drained away from cutting-edge design. Besne left the company in 1991, while Pass resigned in 1992 to pursue other interests. (These blossomed into the Pass Aleph 0 amplifier reviewed by DO in March '95, Vol.18 No.3.)

Solid State Preamp Reviews

Simaudio Moon Evolution P-7 line preamplifier

John Atkinson Mar 20, 2009 First Published: Mar 20, 2009

Over the years, I have become increasingly impressed by the quality of the audio engineering emanating from Simaudio, which next year celebrates its 30th anniversary. In a world where the US facilities of some well-known audio brands have been reduced to a design office coupled to a warehouse for storing product manufactured overseas, this Montreal-based manufacturer, in order to keep full control over quality and hence reliability, does as much manufacturing as possible in-house, including metalwork, some printed circuit-board stuffing, and assembly. (See my photo essay starting herehttp://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/856">here;.)

Solid State Preamp Reviews

The Mod Squad Line Drive passive preamplifier

John Atkinson, Anthony H. Cordesman Feb 06, 2009 First Published: Apr 06, 1987

The Mod Squad Line Drive System Control Center is a purely passive stereo switching unit with a volume and balance control, five line inputs, and additional facilities for two tape decks. It allows the audiophile to replace a preamp, with its active gain stagesand resulting colorationwith a device that introduces no distortion or coloration other than that in the wiring, switches, and controls.

Solid State Preamp Reviews Hi-Rez Disc Player/Transport Reviews Music in the Round

Music in the Round #34

Kalman Rubinson Feb 01, 2009 First Published: Jan 01, 2009

Sometimes, I think life would be easier if I were an audio customer. If I didn't have to wait on the priorities of the electronics companies, I might have gone out and bought a Blu-ray player months ago. Had I done so, I would have been shocked to find that almost all BD players are released with fewer than the advertised number of features, and sometimes require firmware updates—sometimes even a return to the manufacturer—to have them installed.

Solid State Preamp Reviews Budget Component Reviews Digital Processor Reviews Headphone Reviews Computer Audio Reviews

Benchmark DAC1 Pre USB D/A headphone amplifier

Sam Tellig Dec 28, 2008 First Published: Oct 09, 2008

Most of this column is dedicated to two hi-fi products for the massesnot from Lvov, via Vladimir Lamm, of Lamm Industries; or from Leningrad, via Victor Khomenko, of Balanced Audio Technologies; nor from any other Soviet-born audio hero. (Neither Vladimir nor Victor is on the list of "Name of Russia" contenders for greatest Russian of all time.) Nor from any consumer audio company, but from the world of professional audio. An Iron Curtain almost separates the two.

Solid State Preamp Reviews

Lexicon MC-1 preamplifier/surround processor

Larry Greenhill Dec 03, 2008 First Published: Mar 03, 2001

The roadster's throbbing rumble became a roar as the tachometer soared above 4 grand. Like a giant hand, its thrust jammed me back into the seat. Racing along low to the ground, feeling every curve and bump, I began to understand: the automotive virtues of smoothness and insulation had been swapped for firm road grip and the ability to transmit to the driver each jolt and curve in the surface below. Long before I'd climbed into the driver's seat of Porsche's Boxster S, I had known about its low-end snort and speed—the main reasons I was considering a lease—but I had not known about its ability to join sensation and purpose in such an intense bond.

Solid State Preamp Reviews

Myryad MDP 500 preamplifier-processor

Kalman Rubinson Nov 24, 2008 First Published: Jun 01, 2001

In my February">http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/201">February 2000 review of Meridian's multi-talented, multichannel, multi-kilobuck Digital Theatre system, I fumed about the lack of a medium for discrete multichannel music. Even more loudly, I railed against the irresponsible mastering of many Dolby Digital and DTS discs, which place the listener in the middle of an ensemble and swirl the voices around his or her head with little concern for musical or artistic coherence.

Solid State Preamp Reviews

DNM 3D Six preamplifier

Art Dudley Nov 12, 2008 First Published: Nov 12, 2008

It isn't enough to say that engineer Denis">http://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/404listening">Denis N. Morecroft is one of contemporary audio's few visionaries: He's one of a very few mature designers whose passion for doing things a certain way hasn't abandoned him in the least, and whose well-argued convictions seem stronger than ever. Thus, as others cave in to commerce—the tube-amp designer who offers a solid-state product just to help his dealers fill a price niche, the source-component manufacturer who rails against digital audio one day and starts cranking out CD players the next—DNM Design remains the likeliest of all modern companies to stay its course.