A week ago I collected my SRPP+ from Heinrich where he and a colleague were working on the control system at a railway crossing just outside Worcester. He had brought it down from JHB, having built it for me over the past few months. Appropriately it was a beautiful sunny day for my 230km round trip...
For the past week I've been listening to music just about solidly every chance I had. Many times I wanted to jump up and write this but decided to give it a full week so that I can try and do justice to this amazing piece of equipment!
The SRPP+ has been a total revelation in my system which consists at the moment of a Geco Kidnap power amp, Vandersteen 2Ce Signature speakers bi-wired using Straightwire speaker cable. Source was mainly a Wyred4sound Dac2 using MIT and Audioquest interconnects but I also listened to a turntable and other sources.
Right off the bat: - I can honestly say that I have not had such good sound from a pre that I owned before.. and I include some very good company in that comparison!
A good 30 mins to 1 hour warm-up is essential and then...
The first thing that strikes you is the great depth of the sound stage with layering of instruments and the recording space being recreated with uncanny realism. Width of the sound "picture" is satisfyingly wide, precise and panoramic with "big" recordings and intimate with small venue recordings.
Dynamics and "attack" are superb and serves to recreate the excitement or mood of the music as it must have sounded when recorded. I experienced a sense of involvement which I felt was very close at times to what one feels being at a real performance!
Timbre and the balance of frequencies are also beautifully delivered as only valves can. The sound is full bodied and rich in detail from bottom to top. I found I positively reveled in the sounds of instruments and the astonishing amount of musical "information" that was revealed in good recordings. At one stage I became so excited that I had to call Rudi to tell him that I can hear the felt on the hammers of the piano being played by Tsuyoshi Yamamoto!
Bass is big and solid without any hint of flab and goes deeper and lower than expected, with masses of bass detail and nice warmth and smoothness extending into the lower mid range. Weighty and full of impact but cleanly integrated with the rest of the musical content, - perfectly controlled with all genres of music that I listened to, from rock and jazz to classical.
Mid range is where valve gold is is normally mined and in this instance there is an embarrassment of riches. Instruments, voices and venue comes through having texture and a "realness" that reveals an expressive depth and weight that is so involving that one is drawn in and carried along. Here I can probably go on for a day or two about the specifics, i.e., how wonderful strings sound when plucked, etc, etc., but suffice to say that given the right music and recording, - I was seduced, beguiled, delighted and transported!
Upper mid range and tops are very clean and sweet with, once again, such clarity and detail that you can, for instance, easily and clearly tell different types of cymbals apart with the "ting" and the sizzle of rivets sounding exactly like the real thing! Not a hint of sibilance in voices, except where it was recorded in some bad recordings.
Overall this is the single most dramatic and satisfying upgrade to my sound system I have experienced and I rate this pre-amp right up there with the best I've heard.. and better than most of them by a country mile... and that is no exaggeration!
A huuuge thanks to Rudi for being very accommodating and suggesting some very nice additional options such as the resistor ladder volume control/- input and remote control with front panel display, plus some upgrade quality caps, etc. Also to Heinrich for the superb job in building, testing it for me right down to changing the colour of the display to a nice red (instead of blindingly bright blue), plus the awesome quality of the hand made wooden front panel!
If you can build or acquire one of these... try and do so, this is an absolute hi-fi classic of the best kind! A commercial product of this quality, hand built, and optimised over a period cannot be bought for anything less than a fairly substantial sum. I told Rudi that I feel privileged to own this preamp and I genuinely mean that.
My rating is a solid: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
For the past week I've been listening to music just about solidly every chance I had. Many times I wanted to jump up and write this but decided to give it a full week so that I can try and do justice to this amazing piece of equipment!
The SRPP+ has been a total revelation in my system which consists at the moment of a Geco Kidnap power amp, Vandersteen 2Ce Signature speakers bi-wired using Straightwire speaker cable. Source was mainly a Wyred4sound Dac2 using MIT and Audioquest interconnects but I also listened to a turntable and other sources.
Right off the bat: - I can honestly say that I have not had such good sound from a pre that I owned before.. and I include some very good company in that comparison!
A good 30 mins to 1 hour warm-up is essential and then...
The first thing that strikes you is the great depth of the sound stage with layering of instruments and the recording space being recreated with uncanny realism. Width of the sound "picture" is satisfyingly wide, precise and panoramic with "big" recordings and intimate with small venue recordings.
Dynamics and "attack" are superb and serves to recreate the excitement or mood of the music as it must have sounded when recorded. I experienced a sense of involvement which I felt was very close at times to what one feels being at a real performance!
Timbre and the balance of frequencies are also beautifully delivered as only valves can. The sound is full bodied and rich in detail from bottom to top. I found I positively reveled in the sounds of instruments and the astonishing amount of musical "information" that was revealed in good recordings. At one stage I became so excited that I had to call Rudi to tell him that I can hear the felt on the hammers of the piano being played by Tsuyoshi Yamamoto!
Bass is big and solid without any hint of flab and goes deeper and lower than expected, with masses of bass detail and nice warmth and smoothness extending into the lower mid range. Weighty and full of impact but cleanly integrated with the rest of the musical content, - perfectly controlled with all genres of music that I listened to, from rock and jazz to classical.
Mid range is where valve gold is is normally mined and in this instance there is an embarrassment of riches. Instruments, voices and venue comes through having texture and a "realness" that reveals an expressive depth and weight that is so involving that one is drawn in and carried along. Here I can probably go on for a day or two about the specifics, i.e., how wonderful strings sound when plucked, etc, etc., but suffice to say that given the right music and recording, - I was seduced, beguiled, delighted and transported!
Upper mid range and tops are very clean and sweet with, once again, such clarity and detail that you can, for instance, easily and clearly tell different types of cymbals apart with the "ting" and the sizzle of rivets sounding exactly like the real thing! Not a hint of sibilance in voices, except where it was recorded in some bad recordings.
Overall this is the single most dramatic and satisfying upgrade to my sound system I have experienced and I rate this pre-amp right up there with the best I've heard.. and better than most of them by a country mile... and that is no exaggeration!
A huuuge thanks to Rudi for being very accommodating and suggesting some very nice additional options such as the resistor ladder volume control/- input and remote control with front panel display, plus some upgrade quality caps, etc. Also to Heinrich for the superb job in building, testing it for me right down to changing the colour of the display to a nice red (instead of blindingly bright blue), plus the awesome quality of the hand made wooden front panel!
If you can build or acquire one of these... try and do so, this is an absolute hi-fi classic of the best kind! A commercial product of this quality, hand built, and optimised over a period cannot be bought for anything less than a fairly substantial sum. I told Rudi that I feel privileged to own this preamp and I genuinely mean that.
My rating is a solid: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
