There is nothing like a handmade, artisanal product that you know was not run off an assembly line, by a multi national corporation. It does not matter if is a fine piece of jewelry, clothing, kitchenware, or electronics. It feels good to have something put together piece by piece in a small shop, by a proprietor that is proud of every piece. These entrepreneurs also tend to see their customers as more than just sources of income. In some countries like Japan, high quality goods made in small quantities are celebrated. But this can also true in the USA and Europe.
Enter Aric Kimball who hangs his shingle up as Aric Audio. Aric makes wonderful, old school tube preamplifiers and power amplifiers. He sells them direct via his website, and his prices are more than fair. He also will gladly customize any of his products for a customer’s particular needs. Aric has a particular passion for high fidelity tube components, and it is clear his goal is to continually improve designs. His workshop, pictured below, is a laboratory where he strives to get the most performance for the lowest cost by smartly sourcing parts and refining signal paths.
I had been particularly curious about Aric’s preamps, as many consider this particular component the heart of a system. Compromises there can detract from overall system performance. A lackluster volume control, noisy inputs, cross talk, and other poor implementations can be deal killers. Aric has several in the line, starting at $775 for the Transcend MM phono stage, and $950 for the 12AX7 Unlimited line stage. However, what caught my eye was his new Transcend 6SN7 based tube line stage, which sells for $1400. The 6SN7 has not been a common preamp tube for a while.
However last year, Schiit Audio, known mainly for headphone amps and DACs, surprised everyone by bringing to a market a 6SN7 preamp with several selectable output stages (passive, JFET buffer, or tube) with balanced inputs and outputs. It is a very nice sounding unit with a remote, and a very attractive price, $700. Aric’s sent us his preamp to spend some time with and right out of the box the build quality was impressive and the feel had a classic, rugged Made In the USA feel. Our staff loved the retro knobs and the side panels.
The preamp is configured as such:
- Up to 15 db of gain (variable)
- 5U4G tube rectified power supply
- DC used for 6SN7 filaments for low noise
- 4 sets of gold-plated stereo inputs
- 2 sets of gold-plated stereo outputs
Further evidence of old school design is the tube rectification, and variable gain, via knob on the back. This is separate from the master volume control on the front. This feature is very useful for matching the preamp to different power amps and speakers of varying sensitivity. With high powered solid state amps, about half way to three quarters gain was more than good enough. For moderately powered tube amps, full output gain did the job.
I asked Aric what inspired him to design a preamp around the 6SN7 tube:
“As far as what drew me to the 6SN7 tube for this design- it is an exceptionally linear dual triode with large current swings and exceptionally low distortion. What this means is that the tube is a very predictable and accurate performer. In this design I operate the tube in a “Mu Follower” configuration. This puts both triodes of the tube (a 6SN7 tube is two triodes in one envelope), in a sort of “push pull” design- much like a push-pull amplifier. This allows the tube to produce even lower distortion, as the first half of the tube loads the second half- so one draws from the other. When there is a current swing- the first triode pulls from second, and vise versa. It’s essentially two men sawing a tree in that each triode only does half the work. I really love the tube in this design because of not only how well it performs, but that the 6SN7 has been around since 1939, and has always been considered an excellent audio amplification tube.”
First off, this preamp is noise free, with no detectable extraneous sounds what so ever. Preamp noise, whether from tubes, or leaky circuits, is a not a good thing! The second set of outputs was very welcomed for use with a subwoofer. There is no remote control in stock form, however it can be ordered with a remote as an option. The unit ships with Tung Sol tubes, which we have found to be very reliable, and quite good sounding, and very high value.
The preamp was used in two separate systems for almost three months. Both systems featured Magnepan speakers. Each system also had both high quality analog and digital playback. In both systems the Aric preamp performed at a level that was musically enjoyable far beyond expectations in relation to it’s modest cost. The sound of the preamp even without extensive warm up was excellent, with nothing seemed amiss…there were no gaps anywhere that we could detect in the sonic fabric.
Clearly, there were superb midrange holographics, the by product of “tube magic” from well designed components. But let’s add that there was superbly articulated, accurate bass, and very sweet and smooth treble frequencies. Regardless of format, or genre of music played, the Transcend was an absolute pleasure to have in each system.
Playing stacks of classic LPs on a Rega Planar 3 was super fun, and the Transcend flattered many of these older recordings, mostly form the classic progressive rock genre, and a good amount of classic rock and jazz, with original pressings by Sly & The Family Stone, Beatles, Pink Floyd Jeff Beck, The Moody Blues, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, and Santana in heavy rotation. We also made sure to spin off the beaten path experimental stuff like titles form Vangelis, Jean-Michael Jarre, and even some Windam Hill. The music was presented in a gloriously lifelike spread, with the intent of the artist was wonderfully communicated.
Serving up high resolution streams via Sonore Micro Rendu feeding a Simaudio 280D DAC also offered an excellent representation of the high end digital. We have a large library of 24 bit FLAC albums and they were presented with tremendous dynamic range and resolution via the Transcend. As much as we love vinyl playback, it is nice to hear vintage albums like those from The Allman Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane without any surface noise. New recordings from brilliant current artists like Glen Hansard, Steve Gunn, Olden Yok, and Gloria were loads of fun, and it was easy to get immersed in the sound. The server also highlighted how solid the bass performance was from the Transcend.
Since the Schiit Freya is the only other affordable 6SN7 based preamp we are currently aware of, a comparison is warranted. The Transcend is far more ruggedly constructed, and far more attractive. The Freya ships with rather cheap Chinese sourced tubes stock, while the Transcend comes equipped with Tung Sols. The Transcend is also more organic sounding, with a bigger sound than the Freya. The Freya is rather smooth sounding, but a bit on the polite side. It does however feature balanced inputs and outputs, and of course you can bypass the tubes. Both are very high value components, with the Freya being a solid Honda Civic, and the Transcend more of a classic Ford Mustang.
Ergonomically, the volume knob offered excellent range, which made finding the exact level a snap. The second output was used with a subwoofer but you can also use it with a headphone amp or a second amplifier if desired. Both outputs are controlled by the master volume. The toggle style power switch on the back was way cool!
The Transcend’s rugged construction and the quality of the connectors and inputs inspires confidence, and Aric’s circuit implementation is ultra quiet and and start up is super smooth. I have had much more expensive tube preamps is the system that did not match up to the Transcend’s low noise floor or smoothness of operation, not to mention sonic presentation. Tube rolling is certainly an option but we think the Tung Sols are a great choice based on price, availability, and reliability.
If readers are in the market for a very high quality tube preamplifer, we would strongly suggest contacting Aric Kimball for more information about his products. You will be supporting a small USA manufacturer who makes in our estimation high quality audio products, and you will be getting a heck of a deal. Aric has a few other preamps in the line, as well as some very attractive looking tube amplifiers as well.
Aric Audio Transcend 6SN7 Linestage: $1400
Contact:
Aric Kimball