Stealth as Pre or Maestro ZR as pre? to pre or not to pre?

[Fickle-Friend]

I'm thinking about getting rid of the Linn in favour of some valve amps. Right now I'm looking at Quad II Forty Monoblocks and have my eye on the Stealth as a pre-amp. Does anyone have any experience with this as a pre? Now come to think of it, I can't ignore the Maestro ZR either can I? Am I right in thinking these would be passive pre-amps? What are my options and how do you guys feel?

Thanks

[Wmcmanus]

I'd "pre" with the Stealth, but I'd "amp" (as in headphone amp) with the Maestro ZR. I've owned both and A/B compared them for some significant time. In the end, I kept the Maestro ZR because my needs were much more headphone oriented, and I like the way it responds to tube changes, plus I think it extracts details even better than does the Stealth. Notice that I said "even better than does" because, trust me, the Stealth is no slouch as a headphone amp either. But I really think the main selling point of the Stealth is as a preamp, and the Raptor would be a better choice from the RSA lineup as a dedicated headphone amp (better sounding and for less money).

This is also not to say that the Maestro ZR would not serve you well as a preamp in a 2 channel system, but my take on it is that the Stealth has the slight edge as a pre precisely because it doesn't respond as well to tube changes. Odd, isn't it? But in a preamp I'm looking for total neutrality, and the Stealth fits this description to a tee. At least if you're using solid state or digital amps. If you're talking about an all tube based 2 channel system and you want to experiment more with the sound, then the Maestro ZR will offer more flexibility in this regard. In fact, I liked the Maestro ZR a LOT with my Martin Logans (electrostat speakers) because it seemed to take away their tendency to be "bright".

[Borat]

The Emmeline II Stealth was used as the pre-amp in Dick Olsher's pick for Best Sound in Show at CES/T.H.E. Show this year. Read about it on Enjoy the Music here.

It also received a "Standout Demo" from SoundStage! here

Links came courtesy of tyrion.

[Wmcmanus]

Nice links, Borat. Thanks!

[cpw]

The Stealth sounds so damn good as a pre that I rarely listen through the headphones in that rig. I love speakers again and unless my daughter is asleep in the next room, I almost always go vinyl (through a Ray Samuels XR-2)to speakers through the Stealth and an AR VS55 tube power amp.
Speakers are Von Schweikert VR1 monitors w/ a Von Schweikert VRS-1 Sub.
The Stealth as pre is just the shiznit. I couldn't be happier.
I must say though that I have done some tube rolling with the Stealth and have found it does respond to input tube changes though the driver tubes for headphones seem to have less effect.
Ray does have some mods available to optimize the Stealth for low z cans and he may have changed the design slightly since the original units were produced. You should ask him for sure. He's very friendly and no one is more concerned w/ making sure that his customers are happy.
The Stealth is built like a brick sh!t house and exudes quality.
I haven't heard a ZR so I can't comment on that.
All I can say is that I have zero intention of upgrading the Stealth as my pre. Ever! There may be other headphone amps that could have a slight edge over the Stealth but the key word here is "slight".
The Stealth will feed those blocs gobs of clean, pure happiness. You won't be sorry and Ray offers a money back guarantee to make sure of that.
CPW