Dodd preamp vs. McCormack RLD-1 preamp

Well, if this thing is going to get better with break-in, I'm all for it, I love it out of the box, and that with the JJs which most folks don't seem to LOVE - they sound might fine to me, but I am eager for the Amperex to arrive, I'm getting some 58-60 D-Getters which are suppose to be the "sweetest" of the Amperexes. This pre is DYNAMIC.

After the first 50h mark, you should hear a graduate but noticeable relaxing in the upper frequencies and more define bass. 100h in, you will never look back. I am sure that you will spend a lot of time with Dodd now that you started to enjoying it,......but hopefully it's not only the passive admiration of the wood work but play time as well.:)

As to JJ tubes......to be absolutely honest, I was also pleasantly surprise with their sound and for new stock......not a bad tube.....not at all.
What makes it fun ( I mean the tube rolling) is that you can tailor the sound to your taste or music that you feel will benefit from certain sound characteristics that these countless family of 6922/7308 tubes posses.

I don't blame you for wanting to sell the Audio Research LS3. This is the only preamp from Audio Research I never could warm up to. If your looking to stay with a ss pre, the McCormack Platinum RLD-1 will literally smoke the LS3!

Mrjstark. The BENT is gone, and I will miss it -- the best passive I have heard after trying 4 or five of them, but I don't like equipment on the sidelines. A very recommended piece for the "right" system.

I love the Dodd for sound, but the looks don't hurt. Your right about the JJ - no problem as far as I can tell, but tube rolling is one of the "pleasures" of tube pres versus passive or SS - more fun and games.

If I prefer the Dodd to some degree over the BENT and other passives, it is proabably due to the BAM (bass augmentation module) used by my Merlin speakers that goes between source and pre - and according to Bobby (Mr. Merlin) the BAM sound best with a tube buffer and with the Dodd 200ohm out put (yeah!)it bufferes very well indeed and can proabably drive any cable/amp load. I'll comment again when I get the Amperexes, though those JJs are not bad at all.

Phd said: "I don't blame you for wanting to sell the Audio Research LS3. This is the only preamp from Audio Research I never could warm up to. If your looking to stay with a ss pre, the McCormack Platinum RLD-1 will literally smoke the LS3!"

The only reason I am considering selling my 16 yr. old LS3 is because I want remote volume control. I do NOT want to get rid of the sound...I love the sound of the LS3, in fact I have the RLD-1 in my system now to audition and quite the contrary, I think the LS3 smokes the RLD-1. The RLD-1 is very detailed, borderline etched with a fairly planar soundstage. Also it seems a bit bass shy. I plan to leave it connected for a few more days before I pull the plug on it though. I am really intrigued by the possibilities the RLD-1 may have with the Steve McCormack mods. That however is a $1400 roll of the dice. I have his DNA 0.5 Delux amp and I like it alot. He seems to really know how to design amplifiers and the mods for the RLD-1 involve cost-no-object parts...a more sophisticated volume control and replacement of the power supply, and several other things.

I find your comment about the LS3 being the only ARC preamp you didn't like interesting since way back in the mid 90's Stereophile put it on their recommended A list (as I recall).

Now keep in mind, I am an old fart and no doubt have tin ears so take all this with a grain of salt.

Mrjstark,

Thanks for providing your take on the RWA Isabella versus the Dodd. I added the RWA 30.2 integrated to my system back in May and have been very pleased with it. I have been contemplating adding the Dodd or RWA preamp also and am most interested in how these two compare in depth of sound stage. Could you please comment?

Pubul57,

I tried running my 30.2 directly from my CDP, but found the soundstage a bit flat. Putting my PLC Sonic Euphoria (autoformers) in line increased the depth. It also, to my ears, significantly improved impact and added some welcome texture (i.e. "weight") to the sound (better impedance matching due to the transformers??). How does the soundstage depth of the Dodd compare to the Tapp?

Thanks