Testimonials

Product: Expression

“Hard work does pay off. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my expression so far being connected to my Marchand x over and my Adcom gfa 5400s that i have completely rebuilt with Mundorf caps and modified to 100% class A. They only put out 50 wpc now but sound amazingly better than stock. The stock tubes sound very good. With this particular setup I found NOS Mullard At’s sound best with my budgie phono preamp running NOS Sovtecs. My HTPC running to a Schiit Bifrost Dac sound best when running rca black plate au7s. And the gains match closer. Your preamp sounds spooky good. Im looking for ghost in my living room! My buddy who runs high end McIntosh came over and I covered up the pre so he couldn’t see it and told him I wanted him to listen to my new Audio research pre. I run infinity cs 3009s so no fancy speakers, and he immediately wanted to sell his McIntosh and buy an audio research. When I unveiled your preamp he was pissed. When I told him the cost I had to talk him off the ledge! Needless to say his mac is for sale and your probably going to get an order for at least a pre. He’s waiting for my power amp before he orders. Great work dude. I’m happy for your success and recognition!” – Adam Webb 

Product: Unlimited

“Your Aric Audio preamp is excellent. I am an audionut, not an audiophile. My gear has been slowly collected over time and the synergy of it is very good. The Mcintosh speakers need a lot so I have 2400 watts going to each. I have a lot of upgrades on my wonderful turntable, and it plays through the Aric Audio preamp. The sound is so still and life like it shocks.” – Bill Peay 

Product: Custom MM Phono Preamp

“5 star. Purchased a custom MM Phono Preamp from Aric, and am stunned at the build quality of the unit, and the incredible range of harmonics which I was never able to get before out of my vinyl. 10/10 would buy again, thank you Aric!” – Michael Ettinger 

Product: Unlimited & KT88 Amp

“I was able to listen more this weekend. Right now I have the 12AU7s in the power amp. With the pre amp at about 2/3 gain and the power amp to full gain I need very little ‘volume’. The sound is full and rich with plenty of volume and no noise or hum.
Just to let you know that everything sounds fantastic and we are enjoying things immensely.” – George Naughton 

Good day all.

“During the last couple of weeks as I have been thoroughly enjoying the break-in process of Aric Audio’s, The Motherlode, I have had many private inquiries about the piece. I have tried to reply to all of them, but in the interest of efficiency, I have cut and paste my latest response.

Now again, I am far from a reviewer, so you will have to excuse my lack of use of audio superlatives. First and foremost, Aric is fantastic to work with! He could have easily said, “look, I have several preamps in my lineup to select from that I know punch well above their weight”, but he didn’t. He was happy to work with me and take his background and knowledge in what works and apply that, coupled with a grade of components that Bill(grannyring) had suggested that would rival that of The Dude. I have never even heard The Dude, but I knew that my Pass preamp was not doing it for me. So I have a bout 150 hours on the tubes, Dueland and Jupiter caps, and it sounds nothing short of amazing! Big, expressive, detailed yet rich, huge 3 dimensional soundstage with great separation between instruments, dead silent in all line levels and phono stage. It is by far the best preamp that I have had in my system and listening room, and I have had and borrowed a lot of high end, expensive gear…it just sounds Natural and LIVE! Here is what I would say that best describes my thoughts on what I am hearing from this piece to date(and it is not even close to being broken in yet), if this piece had a $15K price tag on it, I would consider it an audio bargain… And I only paid $4800! I am not a paid spokesperson for Aric Audio, but what he is putting out in terms of tube gear, should have the likes of Audio Research, Ayre, Atma-sphere, and the like, rethinking their approach to the business. I will never again buy from a mass produced company!

Later this year I am going to have Aric build me a completely spec’d out SET amp.

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Brian” – Brian (laaudionut) 

Review: Aric Audio Super 6SN7 preamp

“I thought I would take this opportunity to provide a review on my new Aric Audio Super 6SN7 preamp. I hope some of you may find this information useful. My previous preamp was a CJ CT-5 which I enjoyed for nearly 15 years. My system has gone through a lot of changes in the last year and I decided it was time to explore the options for a new preamp. If I’m going to be honest Aric Audio wasn’t on that list.

A friend who’s ears and opinions I respect suggested looking at Aric Audio. After doing my due diligence and reading reviews here and elsewhere I decided to reach out to Aric and see what options were available. First, let me say a few things about Aric. He was a pleasure to deal with, very responsive to emails and phone calls. Over the years I have dealt with many manufacturers and dealers and Aric is up there with the best. Back to our story, my plan for this preamp was to get as much of the performance of the Motherload II into a single chassis preamp. Aric suggested using the Power Supply from the MLII and the upgraded volume control as well.

The process from beginning to end took about 3 weeks. The preamp was well boxed and arrived with no issues. It has a quality feel to it with and looks like its built to last. The stock tube set up is ok but you will need to upgrade the rectifier and 6SN7 tubes if you want to hear what the Super can really do. I’m currently using a RCA rectifier and a set of CBS (5692’s).

After about a month of break in time the Super really began to show what it can do. Its a very engaging and balanced preamp. Compared to my previous CJ, the Super has more color, richness and life to the music. Vocals are smooth and organic with lots of air between instruments. One of the main staples in my music collection are sound-tracks. Dynamics and a large sound-stage are a must for me. As accomplished as the CJ was in this department , the Super improves on that even further. Bass is tight and tuneful without being over done. The sound-stage is expansive and is giving me the most holographic imaging I’ve heard in my system. The Super has given me a new appreciation for what a well designed preamp can do.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I’ve done a lot of upgrades to my system over the last year. Without any hesitaton, the Aric Audio Super 6SN7 is the addition that has given me the most enjoyment. Highly recommended.

Current System Setup:

Pass Labs XA 30.8, Modwright Marantz SA8005, SR PowerCell 12 UEF, Proac D-30R, and combination of SR Galileo UEF and WyWires cables. ” – Chris Mach