kevinnyc
Active member
I haven't tried a John Hardy M1 preamp yet, but I have tried the API 312 preamp, so my experience with listening to both preamps is rather limited. Nevertheless, I've been wondering: I hear people's claims that John Hardy pre's are "uncolored", and that API preamps are "punchy". Why would the John Hardy sound drastically different than an API when both companies use Jensen transformers and relatively similar build? Is the cause of sound "coloration" or "uncoloration", for that matter, the simple difference between using a 990 opamp vs. the 2520? I am aware that API only used jensen transformers on the input, not the o/p.
My fascination with the "sound color" of these preamps came about when I called a reputable company looking to buy an API 3124 preamp to use on a classical remote recording. The sales representative told me, "you don't want an API preamp for CLASSICAL music! It's too colored. You need something like a John Hardy or a Millenia pre."
On a sidenote, I've been really focussing on tube amplification for the past few months so my theory and knowledge of solid state preamps may be lacking a bit. From what I remember, the opamp is the heart of the amplifier, and the transformers (if there are any) are the second most important element in affecting sound quality. If someone could shed some light on this for me that would be great.
My fascination with the "sound color" of these preamps came about when I called a reputable company looking to buy an API 3124 preamp to use on a classical remote recording. The sales representative told me, "you don't want an API preamp for CLASSICAL music! It's too colored. You need something like a John Hardy or a Millenia pre."
On a sidenote, I've been really focussing on tube amplification for the past few months so my theory and knowledge of solid state preamps may be lacking a bit. From what I remember, the opamp is the heart of the amplifier, and the transformers (if there are any) are the second most important element in affecting sound quality. If someone could shed some light on this for me that would be great.