[rsbrsvp]

Contrary to technical reality, I have come to believe that a proper pre-amp. can often improve sound noticably- IMHO in my ears this is clear, regardless of the noise or distortion added. My feelings include properly tuned SS preamps.... This is my experience- nothing more...

 

[chesebert]

I have tried three pre- amps with the CFA-3. Benchmark LA-4, Audio-gd HE-1 tube, and Audio-gd HE-1 MK3. All of them increased detail- even though everyone says a preamp adds distortion. (By the way, both audio-gd's trumped the Benchmark). And my results with the HE-1 Tube are similar in description to yours with your tube preamp. More texture, more lifelike timber, more tonal saturation, more detail- and yes- a bit looser (more flabby bass)-- it just comes with the package. I actually believe this distortion is the other side of the same coin that adds the thicker texture. Meaning- it is one and the same. There is a positive side to it and a negitive side to it; but it is the same mechanism; harmonic distortion which texturizes the bass and midrange mostly...

Your description sounds like distortion - some people like high distortion nothing wrong with that.

 

[rsbrsvp]

Your description sounds like distortion - some people like high distortion nothing wrong with that.

I believe this is correct. I beleive this is what I was saying. Tastefull distortion often adds texture and sonic density in a pleasant way. What is surprising to me is SS preamps do it to as well, not just tube preamps. Tube preamps just do it more. My audio-gd HE-1 MK3 does a more suttle job than it's tube counterpart- but still adds some texture- just much cleaner, and more precise. I LOVE the results and find them substantially preferable to CFA-3 without pre-amp. My Mass Kobo 394 II-- same results. Vastly improved perceived sonic results with my preamps. I am not sure my preamp theory would hold true with every headphone amplifier and would venture to guess that more colored headphone amplifiers will not work well with preramps. Just guessing. The CFA-3 and Mass Kobo are very transparent- so they take well to the preamps IMHO.

 

[rsbrsvp]

Honestly, I cannot listen to thbe CFA-3 without a preamp in there; just too dry and to thin for me. My ears got used to pleasant distrotion. Seems I'm not alone.

 

[dstarr3]

If someone says they don't like distortion, I better not see a single electric guitar in their entire music library.

 

[chesebert]

If someone says they don't like distortion, I better not see a single electric guitar in their entire music library.

You should distinguish distortion in music creation and production with music playback. They are not the same thing.

 

[dstarr3]

You should distinguish distortion in music creation and production with music playback. They are not the same thing.

And both are inevitable. The only way to prevent distortion completely is by listening to live, unamplified musicians. So since distortion is inevitably going to be a component of the listening of recorded music, we may as well chase the flavor of distortion that is most pleasing to us.

 

[jlbrach]

You should distinguish distortion in music creation and production with music playback. They are not the same thing.

spot on

 

[MN8372]

Honestly, I cannot listen to thbe CFA-3 without a preamp in there; just too dry and too thin for me. My ears got used to pleasant distrotion. Seems I'm not alone.

Appreciate your feedback and comments and agree with a lot of what you have said. However, I actually like the CFA3 by itself. I find it to be full bodied and not thin or bright. I just think it sounds better with a tube pre in front. Yes there may be some distortion but to my ears it still sounds very clean and transparent. The positives for me are better/more holographic imaging, greater detail and sense of space. Having adjusted the gain the bass is still strong and tight. It’s not a stereotypical “tubey” sound. It’s a hybrid of tubes and solid state which from a taste perspective hits the sweet spot for me with no apparent compromise. I don’t much care if it’s attributable to distortion if it sounds better to me. I see you have a similar philosophy.

Personally I don’t think the biggest compromise is the use of tubes vs solid state it’s the use of headphones (vs speakers). There has to be a reason why tubes are so well loved in the headfi community.

 

[jlbrach]

my CFA3 with both my susvara and 1266 abyss is fantastic on its own....FWIIW

 

[rsbrsvp]

Appreciate your feedback and comments and agree with a lot of what you have said. However, I actually like the CFA3 by itself. I find it to be full bodied and not thin or bright. I just think it sounds better with a tube pre in front. Yes there may be some distortion but to my ears it still sounds very clean and transparent. The positives for me are better/more holographic imaging, greater detail and sense of space. Having adjusted the gain the bass is still strong and tight. It’s not a stereotypical “tubey” sound. It’s a hybrid of tubes and solid state which from a taste perspective hits the sweet spot for me with no apparent compromise. I don’t much care if it’s attributable to distortion if it sounds better to me. I see you have a similar philosophy.

Personally I don’t think the biggest compromise is the use of tubes vs solid state it’s the use of headphones (vs speakers). There has to be a reason why tubes are so well loved in the headfi community.

Agreed. Tube preamp vs tube amp. is less distortion and still potentialy pretty clean, but still not at all the same as CFA-3 alone. Again, even my audio-gd HE-1 MK3 SS preamp adds texture and detail with no tubes but probobly some minimal distortion and i love the results..... and by the way I have a DSD DAC which is already presenting a meatier rounder sound than PCM... I just need more...

 

[newToAudio100]

Any cfa3 owners have a mj3, bliss kte, or niimbus they can compare the cfa3 to?

 

[audionewbie123]

It’s a hybrid of tubes and solid state which from a taste perspective hits the sweet spot for me with no apparent compromise

This.
I usually have a dac->amp combo. But whenever i add a preamp to the combo. Its something magical that cannot be explained.

I m now planning lampizator baltic DAC(tube DAC)-> headamp CFA3(SS preamp) -> Auris headonia(Tube amp) -> susvara.

What do you all think of that?

 

[vkenz]

that combo would make your room as hot as a furnace. it will be a hot hot party?

 

[audioguru1]

So when considering a preamp in front, the real question is how much voltage does the CFA3 circuit handle before distorting. Hopefully I will have some time on the bench later to test with my ATS1. The ATS1 is older, so it is not going to get to the absolute thousandths of precision distortion wise, but its pretty accurate for what it is. Some amps do well with more gain in front of them (more signal than noise), others just distort. I recently had a different amp on the bench that distorted at anymore more than 2.1v of input. I will say that anecdotally the CFA3 does sound good with my pro audio Dacs that output closer to 10v (Mytek is 9.84). I say all this to say, this is easy enough to measure.