Just Pulled The Trigger - ARC REF 5SE

[repman]

Nice pre I hope you enjoy it.

[TMcD]

Good work, you will love it!!!

[jpgr4blu]

Congrats. You will be tres happy

[luchocastro]

Great pre! Enjoy it! Hoping to upgrade my Ref 5 to SE soon.

[darkstar]

Thanks all. Very excited.

t's been a long time coming as you can see from my signature. The upgrade process is moving a little slower than I like but I am getting there. Now the wait and than the break-in. A good problem to have no doubt.

Rich

[darkstar]

Thanks.

That's exactly the reason I went with it. They eventually will be paired with the Sasha's.

Rich

[BillK]

When auditioning, I never realized how obvious a test this is, but if you've a component that has adjustable outputs, compare the sound of the item directly connected to your amp to that of it running through the preamp.

I was amazed at how much the LS-27 affected the sound quality in a negative way and suspect the Ref 5 SE does far less "damage" but it's always going to be there to some degree - thus the eternal quest for the "straight wire with gain."

That having been said, I'm sure the Ref 5 SE is a wonderful piece and you can use the price differential between it and other reference preamps like the Ayre KX-R or Pass XP-30 to stock up on replacement tubes.

Or you could compare it to Boulder preamps and use the difference to buy a second Ref 5 SE for a spare.

[Kingsrule]

Could you please stop bashing the LS27?
You are comparing it to a old, tired Levinson pre amp that basically didn't sound very good in it's day

[Ritmo]

Bill,

Having owned both the LS27 and the Ref5SE I can tell you the 5SE is a superior component. The LS27 is a terrific line stage in its price range. I compared it to other very well known brands and I thought it was terrific at its price point.

Mike

[BillK]

Originally Posted by g997

Could you please stop bashing the LS27?
You are comparing it to a old, tired Levinson pre amp that basically didn't sound very good in it's day

Funny that that "old, tired" Levinson didn't constrict the soundstage anywhere near the way the LS-27 did.

I've heard other preamps that sound as good as or in some ways better than the Levinson - but the LS-27 isn't one of them.

For the record, the Levinson No. 326S also sounded worse than the No. 380S to me when I auditioned it, but a Pass Labs XP-30 and Boulder 2010 sound noticeably better.

From what I heard at the last RMAF, I also suspect the Ref 5 SE would as well.