Audio Research Reference 5 Preamp

Dpac996 I have to agree with you on this one, it seems a little strange. I'm a happy REF3 owner and I have been looking foward to the new REF5 but after finally seeing it I have to say I'm kinda left scratching my head feeling the same way especially after getting to finally see the actual exterior which looks just like my Ref3 except for the handle color change and then looking at the interior humm!!!!!!

As per my post earlier I saw at the dealers a REF3 "Limited Edition" and the exterior looks identical to the REF5 appearance wise, don't know what it looks like inside but now I'm wondering.

No one did reply regarding my question about the REF3 "Limited Edition" any one care to shed some light.

To my understanding there were only about 24 made from Ref 3 parts on the shelf. I believe they did some cap upgrades and a few minor tweeks. They were all gone in less than a week.

Samuel, Audiofool has nothing else to do but to critique ours opinions as ethical violations, while ignoring that he never has anything good to say about products he doesn't or cannot sell.

It seems strange to me there still is not a lot of reviews, information, feedback/impressions, comparisons, and professional reviews of this preamp. I mean as far as audio manufactures go, ARC has a pretty big following. Maybe it is just to new, it has only been on the market for about 7-8 months or the price is to high there are not many owners thus less likely hood of people submitting comparisons, reviews, ect... Thoughts?

I have a Ref 5 and plan to write a post, perhaps even a review, about it. The reason I haven't yet is time - both my own time and the time required for burn-in. Perhaps by summer . . .