Any Experience With Conrad Johnson ET3 Preamp?

After reading ET3-SE reviews I took a 3hr ride to Spearit Sound in Mass. for audition. The CDs I brought were more enjoyable, less fatigueing compared to my solid-state Bryston BP-26. I was sold. My 1st impressions at home after ~2 days are terrific. I don't miss any trait of the ss Bryston. The detail, impact is still there plus realism, bigger stage, harmonically rich mids, more music meat on the bone. I think CJ hit it out of the park with this one- value,gorgeous sound, no noise,no balanced circuits, and a managable single tube. Nice to be immersed in music again.
I feel the ET-3 SE offers the best of both worlds-tube/ss.

I own the ET-3 SE. I have owned many preamps (Adcom GFP-750 blue board, CJ PF2, Rogue Metis, ARC LS26, and McCormack LD-2). These are all great preamps with distinctly different sound. To me, the ARC LS26 and CJ ET-3 SE are in next level sound above the others (and cost much more). The ARC LS26 is more flexible with gain selection, balanced, etc. They both sound outstanding. The CJ with an upgraded tube (like Gold Lion specially selected by Jim McShane) just has that "right" musical sound with all the detail, instrument/voice soundstage placement that you don't want to turn off. You just want to close your eyes and enjoy.

Warning: you need to burn in for 300 plus hrs.

Has anyone compared the se and non se versions? Are they close in performance, or is the se on a much higher level? I heard the non se and was quite impressed.

Hawk28. Sorry, I have not compared the standard to SE. You can always upgrade to SE later if you think you need to move up in performance. I don't think the upgrade is much more than the price difference between the two units.

I auditioned a ETS SE for a weekend and came away less than thrilled. The sound was like a warm misty summer morning. It was a great effect, but it wears on you. I just could not get around the slower, more edge intangled, heavy and less detailed soundstage. And yes, my sample was noisy, too. At the end of the session, the left channel tube started scratching and sizzeling bringing the audition to a standstill.

So, the unit clearly wasn't 100% prior to the outright tube failure, but it had a LONG way to go to be what I would be happy with long term. I used Dynaudio C4's and they are pretty unforgiving if you have a unit that lacks clarity in presentation. Switching back to my XP-10 was a HUGE change in detail and speed and maybe too much, even. But, the two units live at opposite ends of the sound spectrum. I'm still looking for a middle ground pre-amp (possibly a RLD-1 with a 2012 series platinum SMc mod).

I'm not against tubes at this point, I just haven't heard the tube magic yet that would make me accept the more temporary performance peak of tubes. Tubes just change more and faster than SS. The newer single tube per channel SS (I think J-FET) output tube units seem promising, though. They seem to try to manage what is good about tubes and remove the bad (poor ability to drive longer leads).