I use a Cary CAD-5500 that was upgraded by Cary. These include:
a. paper/oil caps in the signal path
b. Multicap polypros everywhere else
c. Rubycon high-speed photo caps in the power supply (which is separate from the preamp)
d. high speed, soft recovery hexfred diodes in the power supply
e. "standby" switch
This unit is from the early 90's and it was designed not as a preamp but to take the digital edge off early CD player output.
As a preamp it is warm and liquid-something I prefer- with a very clean & slightly forward character. It is not "neutral" but makes me smile when I hear it.
I think for the most part Cary makes fine products but they do have a "house sound".
a. paper/oil caps in the signal path
b. Multicap polypros everywhere else
c. Rubycon high-speed photo caps in the power supply (which is separate from the preamp)
d. high speed, soft recovery hexfred diodes in the power supply
e. "standby" switch
This unit is from the early 90's and it was designed not as a preamp but to take the digital edge off early CD player output.
As a preamp it is warm and liquid-something I prefer- with a very clean & slightly forward character. It is not "neutral" but makes me smile when I hear it.
I think for the most part Cary makes fine products but they do have a "house sound".