Music First Preamps...Thoughts?

jaxwired

jaxwired

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Anyone ever own one or currently own one? I've been curious since Sam Tellig (Gillet) reviewed the baby ref a couple years ago. I know the placette passive preamp which I have owned was very interesting indeed. Would love to hear a music first preamp in my home.
 
now I know this thread is very old but having had 6 music first pre amps I thought I should just comment . they are incredible pre amps . I had the music first baby ref at the same time as an arc ref 5se and they really were on a level with each other . highly recommended to try these pre amps

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/music-first-audio-baby-reference-preamplifier/

jonathan the creator of these beauties came to my house when they came out to try one and it was most impressive in dynamics . since then they have bought out the v2 version which is better I am told
 
ah that's great , we look forward to your thoughts . I was chatting with jonathan back in feb at the Bristol show . he is so enthusiastic about his stuff and service and back up second to none
 
I recently added a Baby Classic "v2" to my setup, using quotation marks as Jonathan suggested adding the v2 transformer for the Baby Classic as the most cost effective solution. I have a volume control in my DAC, and to be honest I didn't really think I needed a preamp, but was still curious about trying these Music First products as I've been reading about them for quite some time. I wrote a little about my experience here the other day...

http://www.audioshark.org/showthread.php?t=9369&page=114&p=203716&viewfull=1#post203716

In short, I've been extremely impressed by the Baby Classic. If it's this good I can just imagine how good the Baby Reference v2 would be. I know I would definitely want to find out one day... :)
 
@ hifinutt, yes, they have been positively reviewed.

Do you know how they might be compared to the Bespoke Audio pre amps (understand that the founders used to work with Music First)?

Hi Fi Pig has reviewed products from both companies but, whether intentional or not, don't give an inkling as to which might be "better".

@ VoicesInMyHead, interesting observation. Was the Baby Classic compared to the volume control in the GA?
 
yes I believe the bespoke audio one is based on v1 baby reference . I think they are doing quite well in sales

now jonathan has the v2 out as mentioned . there is an interesting article on passive pre amps by Musgrove from hi fi critic in the mfa news page about 3 articles down here

https://mfaudio.co.uk/latest-news/
 
Thanks hifinutt, missed that one.

I looked at the Bespoke, but couldn't justify the high premium over the v2, especially with Jonathan's new transformers. He has been a pleasure to deal with thus far.

I intend to write about my entire system journey over the past six months at some point this summer - there have been many moving parts after a speaker change last year, all for the better.
 
look forward to it and yes jonathan is amazing . his energy and enthusiasm is super . look forward to your thoughts on how it performs
 
nicoludio said:
Do you know how they might be compared to the Bespoke Audio pre amps (understand that the founders used to work with Music First)?

Hi Fi Pig has reviewed products from both companies but, whether intentional or not, don't give an inkling as to which might be "better".
Click to expand...

I was also very interested in the Bespoke, although, a bit too expensive... but I love the stellar look of it! I don't know if it's ok to post links to other forums, but I personally found this post by Steve Hoffman very interesting, comparing the two.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...ie-review-post-35.472408/page-2#post-13750944

nicoludio said:
@ VoicesInMyHead, interesting observation. Was the Baby Classic compared to the volume control in the GA?
Click to expand...

Yes. And it was no way bad at all, but the Baby took things to another level.
 
ah thanks for that link . good to read . seems to me the mfa v2 is better for less money !

good to see steves thoughts
if one must have a passive, I think the British Music First Baby Reference passive is a better deal at much less money. I like it it for its strengths at its price. It does a few things that demonstrate an advantage to transformers rather than resistors for volume attenuation. By contrast, the Bespoke, IMO does not particularly make a case for any advantage of a TVC. It sounds very accurate, it is impressive in build quality, but the sound is not what I search for, particularly at its price. It can be described as neutral, and therefore an improvement from preamps that take away from a system's sound. But, other preamps I have heard can also be VERY close to neutral, while still either adding or preserving the audiophile nuances that are so important to us. lovers of fine sound
 
hifinutt said:
ah thanks for that link . good to read . seems to me the mfa v2 is better for less money !
Click to expand...

I've had no possibility to compare v1 and v2, but after reading everything I could find about the MFA preamps I was pretty clear on that I wanted a Baby Reference v2. I had the possibility to buy both a second hand v1 Classic and a v1 Baby Reference but in the end opted for a v2 Baby Classic instead. Couldn't afford the Reference at this time and it also felt good to support Jonathan and his work by buying from him. I hope to be able to upgrade one day though, but right now I honestly really don't feel the need as it has already slaughtered all my expectations.... :)


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
 
Well, what can I say.. when I bought my Baby Classic I made a deliberate design decision to keep it as minimal as possible with only XLR in/out. Things and requirements always changes though, I should have learned that by now, and eventually I found myself in need of RCA in/out. So, instead of sending the Baby Classic back for retro-fitting what maybe should have been there from the beginning, I decided to upgrade to the Baby Reference...

I'm still waiting for it though, today I heard form Jonathan that the transformers are done, he's just waiting for the case-work to arrive. Exciting times ahead... I can't wait... :)
 
I can't comment on the Music First but have listened extensively to the Bespoke and suspect it will be my pre-amp when I finally decide on my system. It is beautifully built and incredibly transparent, and laid waste to the Vitus SL-103 at 2.5x price.
 
After waiting for way too long, I finally got my Baby Reference v2 today.... things took longer than expected, but I didn't want to stress Jonathan and here we are today...

As always when connecting new gear I'm worried that I will not be able to hear any difference or that the difference is going to be too subtle to be worth the investment, but I plugged it in and let it play....

My Baby Classic with the v2 transformer was as I've said before already a big step up from using the built in volume control in my DAC. Well, if I thought that jump was big, it's nothing compared to the steps things just took with the absolutely amazing Baby Reference v2.

I could use all superlatives in the world to describe it and still not be sure if it made it justice. I'm very very impressed!

Actually, for some time I have felt that things could sometimes be a bit too harsh sounding, and this is something I have been thinking about how I could address. I did not at all expect the Baby Ref to solve this for me, but it sounds like it did just that! I think the word "analogue" is being overused all the time these days to describe our digital experience, but I'm afraid that's the word I want to use here as well. It's very non-fatiguing, very smooth, very warm and addictive. I just want to keep cranking that volume up!!

As a passive (transformer based) preamp you would expect it to just get out of it's way kind of.... and maybe that's what it does... maybe it allows my DAC and amps to shine even better than they've ever done before. I don't know. I just know that I'm very happy about this purchase. It's not cheap for sure, nobody ever accused it of being cheap, but is it worth the price? That's for everyone's pockets to decide, but right now it feels like one of the best investments I've ever done.

If there is a better sounding preamp out there I DON'T want to know about it.... :) I'm deeply in LOVE with this one!

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Awesome!

The MF Baby Ref v2 is the best preamp I've ever owned - and yes, I've even tried the ARC Ref 6 in my system. It gets better and better for around a month as the transformers break in - you are in for a treat.
 
If it gets much better than this then I don't know what I will do.... :yahoo1:

Quite amazing actually, how much impact a preamp can have on the whole system... and I think what Jonathan is doing with those transformers is something very special indeed, and probably something not everyone can do just like that. A piece of art!
 
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