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In Reply to: REVIEW: Audio Research, Inc. Reference 3 Preamplifier (Tube) posted by saltyflies on March 9, 2007 at 13:09:25:
I hate to disappoint you, but if someone surreptitiously changed preamps on you and all the equipment was installed in a cabinet or other room out of your view, you couldn't tell any significant difference between the units, assuming, of course, you don't have any unit designed by a wacko and don't focus on tiny snippets of one or two "favourite" albums.I have one suggestion for all you guys: listen to more records and relax, it's only a damn record player!
Follow Ups:
Hey Middleground, how's it going?I’m sure that kind of trickery can and may happen, but was not so in this session. I have a history with the dealer, room, and setup and helped swapping out the components; sans the two preamps everything remained the same. In the past, used to demo stuff by playing the high-grade stuff first, followed by my tunes, but now simply cut to the chase. If it doesn’t sound good from the get-go, the critical listening stuff has no value for me. Fwiw, the rest were certifiable, single mike, audiophile grade recordings.
I don’t claim to have golden ears, but thus far the differences with most (including stuff that I believed shouldn’t) are quite distinct to me. I wouldn’t be chasing the dragon if I wasn’t able to hear or appreciate the differences. If you’ve found something better for less or formed an impression, posting it helps regardless if it’s good or bad.
As a family man and semi-cheapskate living in Canada, where prices are higher and you have to pay 15% in sales taxes, I have to be satisfied with equipment that offers the best price/performance ratio. I have found (and this is certainly well known) that the best time to buy is when a newer model has just come out. So, for now, the REF 3 is out of the question. I just recently bought a mint REF 2 Mk II and am as pleased as can be with it. My main point is that hair-spiltting on the equipment side takes away from the enjoyment of music. Whenever I get too wrapped up in equipment, I pause, step back and buy a small batch of records. I think that the first five minutes of listening to any component is the most telling, that after that point your ear/brain starts to get used to the sound. In that lies a problem: if the ear/brain does get used to whatever equipment is in the system, leaving aside absolutely horrendous equipment that no one into hi-fi would buy anyway or an atrocious match between components that most in hi-fi wouldn't make, what one is left with is absolutely enjoyable equipment to listen to favourite recordings with. So that the goal has been achieved, for all intents and purposes. The rest is almost always gilding the proverbial lily. On the other hand, in those golden five minutes one can go in so many different directions since the line between sounding better or merely different is often thin. Problem is once one has listened to a new piece of equipment and it is incrementally "better", one has a hard time putting it out of one's head. So, in the latter situation one has defeated the purpose, being the enjoyment of music, and replaced it with a form of anxiety brought about by wanting.
I hear ya. Actually, I don’t find hardware side very interesting, but a neccassary evil. It took me awhile to figure out “best” in class or most expensive doesn’t guarantee best fit or synergy. My system is dialed in with a passive preamp, but during my wonder lust quest to find out how an active could better passive, discovered tubes have a uncanny way of expressing emotions in terms that I’ve yet to hear a solid state (passive or active) preamp replicate. Unfortunately had to go pretty far down the rabbit hole to find one that could do that tube voodoo with the least amount of loss in transparency. Since I’ve already tried lesser ones in the past and am looking for a longer term solution. Anyway, my understanding is the ref2 ain’t chop liver! If it floats you boat, enjoy it. BTW, how's it compare to others?
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