[Meyvn]

Well, I heard a Rega Apollo yesterday and I'm pretty much sold on it. That means, unfortunately, that since my Zhaolu WAS my preamp, I'll also have to be getting a separate preamp to power the Aleph 3. So, anyone know about preamps, or know a headamp that does a great job at it, too? My price range is $0-700.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Both the Headamp GS1 and Stello HP100 leave very little to be desired (assuming you're not looking for a tube product): clean, accurate, powerful sound with a well-built power supply, in an attractive, solid case, a gain switch, and multiple inputs. Granted they're near the top of your price range, but I've not personally heard anything cheaper that I'd recommend.

 

[Frihed89]

I think that's the designation. It sells for $650. It just a preamp.

 

[TomH]

The GS-1 brought a black background, and clean dynamics to my SS system when mated with a Rotel power amp, and is my reference headamp for dynamic cans. I like clean, dynamic presentations and have not been dissapointed. It clearly improved over my Rotel RC-970BX preamp.

 

[drarthurwells]

I have been disappointed in headphone amps that also can serve as preamps.

The $200 Xian Sheng 708B does a good job in both functions but a really top dedicated preamp and top headphone amp can do better.

 

[Meyvn]

What do you guys think of the Rega Cursa? It would go quite well with the source anatomically, and the remote would work with both as well, I do believe. Think it'd be a good buy sonically? I was going to get the Cursa 2000 if anything.

 

[ironbut]

I don't really know that much about ss preamps. The only ones that I've liked were pretty $$$ ( Ayre,Edge, MBL). But there are a few tubed preamps that you might be able to find used that are in your price range. The Rogue Metis is pretty new but I've seen them used for around $700. It uses 2 6sn7s and has a phono stage and headphone out. I don't think it has a balanced output but your going to have a tough time finding a preamp with them for that price. A nice one that from time to time, go for less than a grand, is the BAT VK-3 or VK3i. I think it uses 4 6922s and is an excellent preamp for the price. If you'd like to go the DIY route, you can get Bottlehead Audio Foreplay lll for less than $400 and the Extended Foreplay upgrade kit is an additional $300. Of course, there are the Melos Sha seres which I've never heard personally but it's headphone amp is legendary. I saw an sha and a gold on audiogon last month, both for under $650. I'm very tube biased so keep that in mind!

 

[tbonner1]

Melos SHA-1 is highly rated and worth a look, but do not overpay.

I would look at the Little Dot II++ for a low priced tube new headphone amp with preamp output. Don't be deterred by negative posts about the Little Dot arcing problems. There was a bad batch of power tubes with the old model that could happen with any tube component. The new modified (II++) model uses different tubes and also has added protection in case you do get a bad tube.

Great customer service from David who is the Ebay seller to buy from (there are 2 or 3 and some are not authorized). Melos is out of business. The shop that used to specialize in Melos repair (Melos Restoration) is no longer in business.