Best Tubed Preamp For A Warm, Rich Sound, Yet Still Detailed and Agile

MP-1 Pre-Amp from AtmaSphere.

I have had the Aesthetix older Calypso pre-amp from 2006. Had a nice musical Tube Sound to it. Mind you their are a number of upgrade option for this pre-amp. As much as I loved it I never really missed this pre-amp.

The MP1 does not not really impart a sound of its own. The Dynamics is a lot more better then Aesthetix and the speed and clean delivery of the musical notes is something one has to hear to appreciate it. The transparency and musicality is a league above from all the pre-amps I have gone through.

I just sent my Pre-Amp back to Ralph and already I'm missing it. I also have the MP3 on a second setup.

The issue with this warmer sounding pre-amp is you lose some information and over time you start to crave for more details but balancing both Smooth delivery and transparency so far has been done with the MP-1 Pre-amp better than any other pre-amps I spent money on.

MP-1 to my opinion leaves the MP-3 well behind. the Diffrence is pretty large.

Im comparing a Top of the Line Fully Loaded MP-1 to a MP-3.

I suspect if you got the MP-3 with the upgraded resistor package and the Vcaps throughout with Regulation it would come closer.

I third Don Sachs' preamps! Terrific quality. Tremendous sound.

Don is a great guy to deal with.
 

I put in my order with Mr. Sachs yesterday, and am looking forward to having one of his preamps in my system.  It will be paired with a Bryston 4B that was reconditioned/ upgraded last fall.