The important thing is that you are happy .................how does it sound ? No amp/preamp with low distortion ( measured ) does sound the same ............even the same good sounding pre/amp does sound different with minor changes of tubes and components ! In reality there are many pre/amps that measure VERY low distortions but sound horrible wrong ......music is not sine waves nor square block waves with a steady frequency but dynamic transients related in time ? Your ears tell the truth ...........and your soyul connects to the music or NOT ! Anyway a beautifull / modern build for a fair price...............well done .
That's one of the great things about Erhard's products - they will customise them. Normally the inputs are on the back, but I wanted them on the front because the input to my amp is on the front as well, and I hate fiddling around behind things with cables.
A really fair price, excellent, but even the often mentioned Chinese tube preamps and copies (ear, c.j.) are very good these days, but it's true that when you make them, they're not that cheap anymore.
You and I seem to be on the same page... following since your ST 120 presentation. This is spectacular! I only play WAV files thru my ST120 using a DAC, just curious what a preamp brings to the party besides input flexibility?
That's a really good question. And I'm not sure that it can be fully answered. True, these days, we can usually control the source volume, and switching sources isn't that much of a big deal. If you listen to everything from a digital source that goes to a DAC, that then goes to your power amp, why do you need a preamp? Especially if your power amp has attenuator pots... Well strictly and practically you don't. I needed something because I didn't have a phono pre-amp. But you would also know from following my videos that I am somewhat of a purist, and a purist viewpoint would say that a power amp should have a pre-amp. The thing that ultimately sold me was a discussion I had with Elson Silva of Cymer Audio. Elson is regarded as a guru here in Sydney, and the products he builds are legendary. Elson told me that a proper valve pre-amp was needed to match the solid state output of my DAC to the ST-120. I asked Elson to build a pre-amp for me, however he was dealing with some medical matters at the time and was unable to build it for me. After looking around, that's when I found Holger and had him build this Ella for me.
The important thing is that you are happy .................how does it sound ?
No amp/preamp with low distortion ( measured ) does sound the same ............even the same good sounding pre/amp does sound different with minor changes of tubes and components !
In reality there are many pre/amps that measure VERY low distortions but sound horrible wrong ......music is not sine waves nor square block waves with a steady frequency but dynamic transients related in time ? Your ears tell the truth ...........and your soyul connects to the music or NOT !
Anyway a beautifull / modern build for a fair price...............well done .
I cant understand why the inputs are on the front..looks horrible to me
That's one of the great things about Erhard's products - they will customise them. Normally the inputs are on the back, but I wanted them on the front because the input to my amp is on the front as well, and I hate fiddling around behind things with cables.
A really fair price, excellent, but even the often mentioned Chinese tube preamps and copies (ear, c.j.) are very good these days, but it's true that when you make them, they're not that cheap anymore.
You and I seem to be on the same page... following since your ST 120 presentation. This is spectacular! I only play WAV files thru my ST120 using a DAC, just curious what a preamp brings to the party besides input flexibility?
That's a really good question. And I'm not sure that it can be fully answered. True, these days, we can usually control the source volume, and switching sources isn't that much of a big deal. If you listen to everything from a digital source that goes to a DAC, that then goes to your power amp, why do you need a preamp? Especially if your power amp has attenuator pots... Well strictly and practically you don't. I needed something because I didn't have a phono pre-amp. But you would also know from following my videos that I am somewhat of a purist, and a purist viewpoint would say that a power amp should have a pre-amp. The thing that ultimately sold me was a discussion I had with Elson Silva of Cymer Audio. Elson is regarded as a guru here in Sydney, and the products he builds are legendary. Elson told me that a proper valve pre-amp was needed to match the solid state output of my DAC to the ST-120. I asked Elson to build a pre-amp for me, however he was dealing with some medical matters at the time and was unable to build it for me. After looking around, that's when I found Holger and had him build this Ella for me.
Oooooh, nice!