APL NWO2.5 ?


Though I'm not able to hear this player, I'm about to take the plunge......
Is it as good as some audiophiles claim ?
peterb
Guidocorona, if it's 6350 tubes perhaps he's talking Joule, not Atma (6SN7). Not to quibble but the Atma MP-1 is far better than "reasonably competent."
There are very nice sounding preamps available, no doubt about it. I also have my own preamp design which has been sitting on the shelf unused for 2 years now.

Except for switching the sources and eventual phono stage built in, the preamp main function is impedance matching and attenuation (volume control). A preamp would be a benefit for any audio system in most cases.

The NWO-2.5 has enough output power to drive any cable or amplifier. It can even drive headphones directly hooked to its output. It also has unique remote controlled H-Attenuator with 0.5db step built in which takes care of the volume control. The H-Attenuator is made in a way that is absolutely transparent.

This said; as good as a preamp can be, the NWO-2.5 simply does not need it nor does it benefit from it, any preamp.

Regards,
Alex
Alex,
Totally agree! I used to have Mark Levinson 380s pre-amp. It is very decent amp. After I got my APL 3910 , I sold my 380S.
Audiosu, the output stage inside the Denon is a version of my own preamp output stage. :-) This one is Single Ended.

The NWO-2.5 tube stage is differential (balanced) which, among other benefits, results in significantly increased output power and much lower output impedance, so it is considerably better than the one in the APL 3910. :-)

When it comes to NWO-2.5 and a preamp is like having two of your favorite SOTA preamps hooked up in series. Of course, one preamp would sound better than two in series making one of them redundant. :-)

Regards,
Alex