Audio Research Ref 6 vs Ref 5 SE


Does anyone compare know the sound quality between the Ref 6 and Ref 5 SE?

What is your choice if you can get a brand new Ref 6 at USD 10,100 and a brand new Ref 5 SE at USD 8750?

mmbl622
Happy for you Jonaiken! Maybe our wives should hang out - It really is amazing how good it is and it only gets more effortless and musical as the hours tick by!!

Two thumps up for the REF6 - I had a well broken-in 5SE in my system - only thing I changed was placing in the 6 to demo from my dealer. New out of the box and upon initial listening I was pleasantly surprised of what it was doing in my system both stage wise and sonically speaking - kinda shocking because I haven't experienced this from any other new out of the box ARC product and I have owned numerous pces over the years- always took some time to hear this or that.

It's now well broken-in - very nice pce indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!  

      

  

Congratulations Dev! It's a fantastic looking and  sounding preamplifier. Enjoy!

elem79 thx - have you tried any footers underneath as of yet? If not you should because doing so you will hear noticeable changes. I just happen to have a few - mini stillpoints/sistrum footers to name a few. Have 3 SP's currently under now and like what I'm hearing and in a weeks time will try the sistrum and then go back to nothing to see which is my preference.  Always like these simple isolation tweaks and have usually found using them to be positive.