so the esoteric arrived this morning, hooked it up through my ar ls2 and listened to pat benatar.
best i can describe is that higher volume levels it holds together much better, more cohesive, much more slam for want of a better word and the highs are not as harsh as the krell was by far.
at moderate levels there is probably not a lot between them although still more noticeable bass on drums etc but as volume is increased the esoteric definitely holds its composure much better.
I then tried running direct to my power amp but i ran out of gain on the internal esoteric volume way too early...lol. Yes I like my music loud or at least the option to like it loud! Now I will say that at lower levels I think I did prefer the sound direct to the poweramp, it appeared more full bodied and possibly even better sound staging so now maybe I have to look for a better preamp as well, you know how that goes......
best i can describe is that higher volume levels it holds together much better, more cohesive, much more slam for want of a better word and the highs are not as harsh as the krell was by far.
at moderate levels there is probably not a lot between them although still more noticeable bass on drums etc but as volume is increased the esoteric definitely holds its composure much better.
I then tried running direct to my power amp but i ran out of gain on the internal esoteric volume way too early...lol. Yes I like my music loud or at least the option to like it loud! Now I will say that at lower levels I think I did prefer the sound direct to the poweramp, it appeared more full bodied and possibly even better sound staging so now maybe I have to look for a better preamp as well, you know how that goes......