It's still doing its thing and doing it *very* well. I went to CES to find other new products to compliment this piece and build around it, not to be an alternative... it's going nowhere.
It's extremely receptive to tube rolling, yet doesn't require super matched tube pairs. I've been putting in very poorly measuring sets (my tube tester sort of came back to life... it comes and goes but when it is working, I've been checking my cheap ebay finds). It does a remarkable job of sounding identical regardless of measurement of each half of the triodes and each tube to the other. I've done SPL measurements as well as subjective listening tests and I'll be darned if I can hear a difference... I could always tell with other tube preamps I've had when the tubes were not matched well.
This thing has everything I've ever wanted on a preamp. The remote controls everything. The HT bypass works like a champ, I'm in the process now of integrating subs by using the second set of preamp outputs into an Audyssey stereo sub EQ unit. I can use the audio PC in the room to change the correction curves in the sub EQ depending on the main speakers being used. The bonus is it sounds super and doesn't cost a fortune.
I've been trying to find more modestly priced electronics and that was my goal at CES. I think I've found a few things and will be bringing them into stock over the next few weeks now that I've finally kicked the flu and bronchitis that I picked up in Vegas. Will they be better than the exotic stuff? In some cases, yes... but that has more to do with the fact that some people, regardless of how much money they have to work with, have no idea what good sound is and will manufacture garbage. But for the most part, no it won't be better than the big boys. There is a reason that some things cost more. Sometimes you really do get more if you spend more. But I'm going to try and focus on the more modest priced stuff for a while and try to show some newer folks just how much performance you can get without spending $100K.....
