I have had my Evo 300 for a little over a month now and I am loving every minute of it. My setup is not the typical audiophile setup. I have a dual-use home theater and listening room. So I use the home theater pass through. I have been using a Marantz pre/pro with a SS amp 7 channel amp for years. It sounds great but I always felt the two-channel listening experience could be better. Getting this preamp proved to be a huge upgrade. Right out of the box, subtle details were suddenly more tangible, and quit sustains that I did not know existed, appeared in familiar songs. Cymbals had texture they did not have before; it was much easier to recognize different cymbals. Some songs I have heard hundreds of times had instruments that I had not heard before. The sound stage became larger and instrument separation was also improved. Again, this was on the first day, in music ranging from rock, and pop, to blues, and classical. What I did not get on the first day, that holographic imaging that people associate with tubes. Also, in my system, it was a little bright almost to the point of fatigue. When I get a new piece of gear I (burn it in) run it at a low volume for a few hours then slowly increase the volume while playing a large variety of music and movies. I did this for three days 6 to 10 hours a day. A lot of that time is unattended, I check in on it while I do other stuff. Every time I came to check on it, it got more engaging. By the end of the third day, it was downright distracting. It was hard to walk away and do other things I just wanted to keep listening to the next track. Somewhere between thirty and fifty hours of time, the Evo 300 really came into its own. The brightness transformed into an airy extension. (I really had no idea what that meant until I experienced it) Detail and clarity poured out of my system. Low-end extension and detail are great. That holographic imaging was now better than I thought could be possible. When I first connected it, I did have some buzz in my speakers that then got worse when I turned on the Pre/pro. I moved some power cords around and played with some grounding. In 20 minutes, I had it quite to the point that if I hold my ear directly to the speaker, I can hear a faint buzz, which is good enough for me. Just know it might be a little sensitive to this sort of thing. The only other thing to mention is that it only has a manual power switch. I did not realize this when I bought it. My whole system is automated by remote. This was a point of contention with my wife and my son. That is until they both heard the difference it made for music and to the soundtracks in movies. Now, they are fine with turning it on and off manually. My son (16) commented the other day how the music in a commercial the other day had imaging and separation. That’s impressive! I highly recommend this preamp! Upscale has been great to work with, they promptly answered all my questions before and after the sale. The shipping was fast and the packaging that they shipped to me was great. Who else triple boxes something when they ship, especially free shipping? They are great!
Nathan
Thank you Nathan for your support! Highly appreciated. On the website of Upscale Audio you can read more customer reviews about our PrimaLuna EVO 300 Tube Preamplifier. Click HERE
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