Matching Premamp to XPA-1

[papabear]

Good evening !  

I'm seeking the assistance of the Emo community to guide me in choosing a new pre-amp to set up with a pair of XPA-1's and replace a sometimes defective Micromega PA-20.    The availibilty of balanced inputs and outputs is a deal maker for me.

My three choices so far :  
- Schitt  Freya... for the option of trying out tube sound without sacrificing possibility of reverting back to SS, true balanced design 
- Emo XSP-1 ... perfect match for the XPA's, differential inputs and outputs and HT by-pass for added versatility
- Audio Experience A2 Plus

I've ruled out the Cambridge 851e for now.  A demo at a hi fi dealer left me unconvinced.  My heart is with the Freya (price wise it's hard to beat!), but I'm afraid that matching the high gain of the XPA-1 to higher noisé floor of the tube pre-amp might not yield the best sound.  Also, considering some of processing In my set up (see below) any improvements from tubes may be waisted.

Any thoughts ?

Set up :  (1) TEchnics Sl-1200 c/w Kab/Ortofon S-40; (2J Oppo BDP-105; (3) PC MUsic Server; (4) Sonore microRendu; (5)  ADL Stratos DAC/Phono Pre; (6) Micromega PA-20 preamp; (7) Dspeaker Antimode 2.0 and (8) Bryston 10-sub crossover feeding 2 Ascend Acoustics Sierria Towers and 2 x Rhytmik subs.

[Gary Cook]

As an XSP-1 Gen 2 owner I can speak very highly of its sound quality, truly a class pre amplifier. Utilising quad discrete balanced circuitry all the way has benefits, including a zero noise floor. As does the all analogue signal path, including bass management.

Cheers
Gary

[RichGuy]

I am another very happy XSP-1 owner and would very highly recommend it as an excellent preamp.

If you would like a little experience with tubes I'd recommend you try a tube DAC, I have both an MHDT Havana NOS tube DAC and an MHDT Stockholm fully balanced NOS tube DAC and I love them both. Combined with the XSP-1 the sound quality is extremely nice.

I really love MHDT's sound and that's what I'd recommend but Schitt's has tube DAC's as well.



Here's a couple pics of MHDT's Stockholm balanced NOS DAC.

[papabear]

Thanks Gary and RichGuy for the replies.   The XSP-1 coupled with a tube DAC might be worth looking into.   I might just give a call to my local Emo dealer and find out if they have a unit set up for an audition.

Has anyone tried out a Freya matched to a Xpa séries amp?

Reading on the Freya, they seems to claim that theirs is one of the few unique real  balanced topologies.   Not being an expert, I don't know to what extend this applies to the Xsp?

[garbulky]

I may be in the minority but hear me out. I have been a HUGE fan of the XSP-1's. And with every amp I've heard it with it's been excellent. However, I've used the XSP-1 on the XPA-1 monoblocks. Not enough transparency! The treble and the bass have a veil over it - though the dynamics are very nice. I never noticed the veil until I got the XPA-1 gen 2's. However the DC-1 which I use sounds really nice paired to it running in direct mode. Lots of transparency (to my surprise), even clearer than the XSP-1. I think this is because the XPA_1 gen 2's are a step up in terms of transparency. The DC-1 is fully balanced on its XLR outputs.

If you are looking for that last bit of transparency you may be interested in Audio GD's Master One or HE-1 preamps. Both are pricey though. I haven't heard it but brutiarti has and found the it superior to the XSP-1.
But if you don't want to spend that much the DC-1 direct to the XPA_1 gen 2's are indeed a REALLY nice match.

Edit: I see that you are a vinyl guy. A DC-1 + XPS-1 phono preamp unit (different from the XSP-1) would be pretty nice. However I recognize that this means that you are foregoing balanced inputs. So maybe my suggestion is not the best. I come from a digital source perspective. FWIW the RCA input on the DC-1 is very good and is "internally" fully balanced though the input is unbalanced.

[RichGuy]

Aug 1, 2017 21:39:01 GMT -5 papabear said:

Reading on the Freya, they seems to claim that theirs is one of the few unique real  balanced topologies.   Not being an expert, I don't know to what extend this applies to the Xsp?

The XSP-1 is also fully balanced with a differential input to output completely balanced design. Some products just have the XLR inputs/outputs but are not fully balanced they just use XLR inputs/outputs. Fully balanced differential requires a lot more than just the connectors it sends two signals in different polarities that when combined cancel out virtually all unwanted noise. Emotiva XPA-1's and the XSP-1 are fully differential balanced.

[vneal]

Emotiva XSP1

[mgbpuff]

I have Gen 1 XPS-1 driving Gen1 XPA-1 monoblocks powering Magnaplanar 3.6R speakers. The 3.6Rs have one of the finest ribbon tweeters (as in your Ascends) in the world in their long wire version and they sound spectacular - no veil, just pure!
You don't need a tube in the path to roll off the high frequencies, in fact I would deem that undesirable. And I do have tube amps in other systems, a push-pull 2A3 amp (13 watts) driving Zu Essence, and 300B monoblocks (8 watts) driving Cain & Cain Abbeys (a single full range driver speaker). They sound nice too, but the system I tend to listen to most is the Emotiva/Magnaplanar system.

[papabear]

Thanks to everyone for their input.   I will definitively audition the XSP-1. 

Cheers!

[mshump]

+1 for the XSP-1

Mark

[garbulky]

The XSP-1 still sounds really good. it's the best standalone preamp I've heard - so far. Though a PS Audio balanced preamp I heard sometime back may have been slightly better. Hard to say. But the DC-1 simply did better for transparency. I heard better room dimensions in the recording and a better sense of space/air.

[milsap195]

Have a gen 1 xsp for $500 shipped.

[audiobill]

What is a standalone preamp for?