Thread: Bel canto pre amps

Been a BIG fan of Bel canto for many years . started off years ago with a humble pre 3 and moved to several pre 3 vbs [ virtual battery supply ] then moved to the pre 5 and now just recently got the EIX pre /dac


So the Bel canto EIX pre arrived last week after weeks of anticipation and wondering how the heck you work all those tilt feature etc . It has a streamer and dac and can be used as a pre amp

As john says
The analog inputs are all digitized to 24/192 via a high-dynamic-range ADC located within centimeters of the analog inputs. John Stronczer says that “all audio signals travel through the same digital path and benefit from the advantages of our unique system architecture

So using this with a very modest digital cable [ decent aes on order ] with a bel canto cd2 as transport into some nice cloned F5 monoblocks into the tannoy eaton legacy . It replaces a very competant BC pre 3 vbs with a very upgraded sean jacobs dc3 .
the advantages of this pre are 1] its American made and build quality is good 2] the remotes from the e-one will work on it as they are lighter than the metal one supplied 3] its very easy to use
4] there are loads of dealers in UK so lots of support
5]the display turns itself off after 2 hours so you can leave it on 24/7

disadvantages 1] there is no xlr input so can`t directly compare to my pre 3vbs which does

Been playing a number of cds on it since it arrived . its quite an exhilerating ride with live music . John Campbells Howlin mercy [ `down in the hole` and `when the levee breaks `] have hardly been off as its VERY live sounding , that slide guitar and gravelly voice sounding very real and atmospheric . Because of that fairly ` fast ` nature i might just be a bit cautious about putting it with bright speakers but you can adjust the treble etc with the tilt function . However i have played some fairly bright stuff from Mancini which is pretty smooth and ok . This pre would easily match the MFA baby ref v1 which i have had previously . Its somewhat addictive to listen to

Of course the integrated version of this EIX has a class D power amp which will be interesting to compare


some pics to compare to the pre 3vbs . much bigger than i thought

P1080199 by , on Flickr


P1080196 by , on Flickr

I was aiming to replace my long sold audio resaerch Ref 5se but the coming of the EIX has put that on hold . Its extremely good .

Congrats.

I was wondering how the DAC would sound compared to past Bel Canto. I tried the E1X power amp in my system and found the sound different from past BC amps I've heard, more warm and inviting. I was curious if the DAC's would keep with past sound or have changed.

i recently tried a Bel canto c5i as a pre amp and it was pretty good but the eix is better . very smooth but dynamic
i must say BC changing to ncore from icepower does not imbue me with confidence as they often need repairs but i guess if there is a warrenty its ok