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Old 03-12-2013, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by jondkaufman View Post
As I am currently moving from the Autieges (the two box version) to the Masseto (will the package never arrive?), my feelings are: a) The Auriegies is a very good pre-amp, with lots of tone and feeling, (b) When I had my session with Matt, I was stunned by the sound difference when we moved to the Monbrison - clarity, depth, etc. - everything else being equal (same Montille, speakers, everything), (c) I could not hear as big a difference from the Monbrison to the Masseto, it was much more subtle. I choose the Masseto over the Monbrison because it was a bit different with the transformers and I felt that it was a "better" long-term selection, but I could have been exceptionally happy with the Monbrison. Having said that, when Matt put the Aurieges back into play after the Monbrison, after just a couple of songs, I quickly asked him to take it out for the Monbrison. And that was that...I have had my Aurieges for a couple of years now, and it is very good, but IMHO and in my system (I'll be staying with the Montille to power the O/96s for a while), it is not in the same category as the others above it, technically...I have not heard the V-R or above yet...Jonathan K.
Indeed. There are clear and distinct jumps in performance as you move up the line. Aurieges to Monbrison brings much more scale and even handed musical playback top to bottom. Musical tone and texture takes on a more palpable presence. The Monbrison to Masseto difference is more about finesse, nuance and a bump in resolution. You will also notice much more weight and 'foundation' with the Masseto.

All 3 allow you to enjoy a tremendous degree of great music, no doubt about it!

The key to maximizing the performance of these products is making sure the rest of the system is capable.

As a few of previous posts implied, some missed their Aurieges after moving to a higher end model. This is emotionally justifiable since it is giant killer of a preamp and we all have a special place in our heart for our first Shindo preamp! ;-) But if it is preferred sonically, it definitely highlights, to me, a potential bottleneck in the rest of the system when a model such as Monbrison, Masseto or Vosne-Romannée is placed in the setup.

Higher end models will demand a bit more care in setup to maximize their potential. Ie. Speakers that aren't squeezing the life out of the music, proper speaker setup, proper cabling, better equipment stands..better source components, so on and so forth.

-M
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