Three New Year's FollowUps
The January and February 2022 issues of Stereophile feature followup reviews of three products: the darTZeel NHB-18NS Mk.2 preamplifier; the Sutherland Little Loco Mk.2 phono preamplifier; and the Mola Mola Tambaqui D/A processor.
Threshold FET 10 preamplifier
This product is a pre-trol. What, you may well ask, is a "pre-trol?" Well, Threshold Corp. calls its FET-10 a preamplifier, but it isn't, really. In fact, it isn't an It at all; it's a Them. Only half of Them is a preamp, and you can buy each half separately. If that sounds a little confusing, maybe it's because some of the old, familiar language of audio is starting to lose its relevance.
Threshold FET Nine/e preamplifier
The Threshold FET nine/e ($2595) is the junior sibling of the FET ten/e, a solid-state preamp that has earned a rave review in March 1991 from noted tubeophile Dick Olsher (Vol.14 No.3), itself a development of the FET ten that J. Gordon Holt reviewed in September 1987 (Vol.10 No.6). Would my ears, accustomed as they are to the pitter-patter of electrons traveling through a vacuum, have a similarly positive response to the FET nine/e?
Threshold T2 preamplifier
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.)
Topping Pre90 line preamplifier
There has not been a conventional preamplifier in my main audio system for quite a while, because no multichannel preamp is available that's of high enough quality. Instead, I use the high-precision digital volume controls in my players and DACs and choose sources with a relay-based multichannel analog switch. Plus, I tell myself that no preamp can be more accurate and transparent than no preamp.
Two Preamplifier FollowUp Reviews
Two high-performance preamplifiers were subjected to further listening in recent issues. Jason Victor Serinus wrote about Rotel's Michi P5 in September 2022; Jim Austin auditioned the Audio Research Reference 6SE in October 2022.
Viola Audio Laboratories Cadenza preamplifier
"So what are you reviewing now?" A polite question, considering that my old friend Randy is definitely not an audiophile.
YBA 2 preamplifier
A truly great preamplifier lets everything through, both music and distortion, but with such generosity that neither...is cramped and narrow.—Larry Archibald (footnote 1)
Z-Systems rdp-1 digital preamplifier
Tone controls? I ripped them out of my Dyna PAS-3! And that was the last time I had tone controls. As a card-carrying audiophile, I wanted just what the engineer had inscribed on the recording, with as little change as possible (read: high fidelity).