Review: Alaap Audio (Doshi) Mark II Tube preamp


Category: Preamps

Welcome to this review. Since I began learning from the great participants and threads here on audiogon, I feel the most valuable decisions I've made in my system have not come from glossy mags and esteemed reviewers but from the folks here. In this same vein I hope to impart the experience I've had with this preamp.

It's important to know that in no way am I proffessional reviewer nor do I have any affiliation with the product or the designer, expect to say he's a great guy.

It's also important to know that I've had limited experience with preamps and have only listened to a handful in my short time being interested in good equipment. Therefore, I'm going to refrain from any comparisions and hope that those who also own the Doshi's out there can provide answer's to any questions that might pertain to "well how does it sound compared to..."

First the specs: This is a fulll function pre. It has 6 inputs, three for the phono section, two loaded for MC carts, one for MM carts. Phono input 1 is generally loaded to a switchable three position loading at 75ohms, 600ohms, and 2.5k ohms. I had Nick change the 75ohm setting to 100ohms to match my .24mv ZYX. So in many ways this is a custom pre. The other three inputs are an XLR female output that I run my CDP off of, then two RCA out's.

Tubes used for the 1st phono stage are 12AX7A. Tubes for the 2nd phono stage are 12AT7, and tubes used for line stage are 12BH7A. The line stage as very low output impedence easily driving low input values. I have not experimented with any tube rolling.

My listening tastes are all over the charts. It's hard to break it down into precentages. In one night I typically go from Neil Young, to Lucinda Williams, to Neko Case, to the Stones, to Norah Jones, to Billie Holiday, to Elvis, to Sonny Rollins, to Dexter Gordon, to Lightnin' Hopkins, to Johnny Lee Hooker, to Johnny Cash, to Dylan, to Beck, to... well you get the point.

I do look for an ease in presentation like I'm bathed in sound, yet I want music to have an emotional and dynamic force that makes me turn my head when I hear something. I want female vocals to be startling and the piano to be tonally correct.

I want micro and macro dynamics to be presented evenly but I tend to focus on the micro a bit more as a way to place the performers. I value as neutral a sound as I can achieve and use live music as a reference to determine coloration. Before I had the Doshi, I tended to listen at high volumes, but now feel like I get the emotional and visceral impact of the music at lower levels.

Associated gear
Amazon Reference
Triplanar VII
ZYX Atmos
Lectron JH50
Esoteric X-01 D2
Exactpower EP15A
Merlin VSW-mxe
mariasplunge
Great job, Peter!

makes me turn my head when I hear something

I know exactly what you mean and have expressed the same to Nick. I'm coming up on two years with my 4 chassis Alaap and I still get these moments during every listening session. Vinyl or CD, it all sounds wonderful!

Mothra, I also had a Rhea before ordering my Alaap. I completely agree with your assessment.
Thanks for chiming in gentleman! Happy we can all give Nick the cedit he is due for creating such a beauty. Pleae feel free to add any observations about anything but in particular I've had some private emails concernig the phono stage.

Not being nearly as knowledgable in comparisions and the nose present in other phono stages, I'm sure folks would enjoy hearing what you hear.

John, do you use a line conditioner with you Dream cords? Did you hear an improvement once you had some front end equipment under the Dreams? On the website Stealth discussed using their cords to create a star grounding. Did this imporve your sound?

Regards gentleman,
Peter
Doshi, I have never heard of it, is this thing really any good?
Well, to quote another mini-review I read somewhere:

Nick Doshi Mark II: It is in INCREDIBLE. It has the most beautiful yet neutral tonal balance the I have ever heard. The Mark I is neutral, as well, tone wise. So than what does the Mark II add? It keeps the great tone and adds even more EXPOLOSIVE dynamics, while still being harmonically textural. Not easy to do I am guessing, but most importantly their was no trade off for these performance gains. It still has all the finesse and nuance I always have loved.

These added dynamics really changed the musical presentation spatially in great ways. The speakers really seem to disappear even more, music now just floats effortlessly in black space. Notice I said black space, the Mark II is ultra quite. The added dynamics were not a trade off for increased noise. The Mark II has a blacker back ground then the Mark I, which is quite for a tube preamp, but the Mark II is as quite as solid state designs. Summary the Doshi Mark II in Five Words: MUSICAL, Textural, Dynamic, Harmonic, and Lively. I will never own another preamp. I really don't think their will every be a Mark III either this is as good as it gets.
I thought that guy summed it up pretty well. ;-)
Well Doug, I think it's pretty obvious that the guy who posted that mini-review had been drinking quite a bit though. ;^)

Cheers,
John