Bryston preamp or lyrita tube preamp

[Zenith20122012]

Hi i wanted feedback if i had to change my preamp. I was considering a solid state preamp maybe bryston (made locally here) or rotel OR a tube amp maybe lyrita available in india or a yaquin from hong kong.

I have energy speakers at the moment and have bought a pair of bookshelves without hearing them as they were well recommended. (I live in canada and this is for my family home in pune)

Music is mainly cd but may go for a streamer one day if i can take time to convert all music to digital will save me money for having 2 setups in canada and pune!

Which is a better preamp choice? Bryston/rotel or lyrita/yaquin?

 

[malvai]

The Lyrita DHT pre is supposed to be very very good for the price and is definitely a cut above the other amps you have mentioned.... also, there is a Lyrita pre amp for sale in the for sale section and going at a steal of a price....

 

[Zenith20122012]

Wow thanks for that advice malvai. Lyrita is better than bryston even. Here in canada people consider bryston as king of amps. I will research lyrita more on your recommendation.

 

[malvai]

Lyrita has its own strengths. The Bryston BP6 is a superb, neutral preamp. I find it to be the best low priced preamp to have ever been built.

The Lyrita DHT has superb tonality. But being tuned it does have the strengths of tubed line stages -- lushness.

So do read up more!

 

[stevieboy]

Zenith,

I'd recommend reading more about the Lyrita or maybe even giving Viren a call to chat. I'm listening to the DHT pre right now. Impressions are on this thread from various owners http://www.hifivision.com/press-release/22624-lyritas-mono-power-amps-line-preamp.html.

Regards

 

[aks07]

I've never seen or heard a Lyrita product for real or for that matter any of the Bryston products.

However, I am looking at the innards of a Lyrita line-stage which is up for sale in this forum. You can see it here http://www.hifivision.com/sale-owner/43748-preamp-lyrita-audio-lync-preamplifier.html

I am impressed by what is on display. To start with:

1. The Power supply. Look at that hefty C Core mains transformer and the filter Chokes for each channel. And the valve heaters get a DC supply of their own. A good PSU is the heart and engine of a valve based system.
2. Line-stage is transformer coupled to output. That means we avoid a capacitors in the direct audio path. Good OPT's are expensive. The ones here look appropriately sized for the job.
3. NOS Sylvania 6SN7GTB valves. No Chinese rip-offs. I dont know just how much these Sylvania's cost nowadays. Fleabay could give an idea
4. I like the layout. Power section in one part and signal section in another part well isolated from each other. The output transformers are positioned farthest so as to ensure minimum interference.
5. Values themselves are mounted on non-metallic surface. Reduces microphonics and magnetisation effect which is said to be determinant to SQ.
6. P2P wiring. No PCB's.

To summarise it's got 5 heavy ironware out of which 4 have air gaps. Its got Sylvania NOS 6SN7's. And its all housed in a real wood enclosure in a well thought out layout.

All these promise a good performance and I am sure it does meet the expectations.

Further, its perfect for so called upgrading things. If some one is so inclined he can do all the upgrades on internal wires, capacitors, pots and so on. Its so easy.

I am sure there are other line-stages which offer similar design features. But this one is at sale for just Rs. 12,000 ! Its less than what some folks spend on a pair of interconnects.

Unfreakingly good VFM!

 

[kartick]

A couple of months ago or so, I requested Viren Sir to lend me the Lyrita Phono Preamp (LPP) so I could try it in my setup and he graciously agreed for the same. Prior to that I was using the Phono Preamp that Mr. Om and Sachin had put together for me.

I plug in the LPP and holy smokes!! If before that day I said I knew what Vinyls sounded like or what the famous analog warm sound was, I would be lying. Talk about upgrades, this was the biggest upgrade I had made after the Lyrita SET 2A3 amplifier.

Simply put, Weight + Warmth + Lushness + Juice + Succulent = SQ of Lyrita Phono Pre

I give ample credit to the Phono that Mr. Om and Sachin had made for me because in that price range, nothing even comes close to this phono. However, the Lyrita Phono infuses oodles of life into vinyls being played via it. Upon a direct comparison of the same song, when played via my Comp (FLAC Files) + Xonar Essence ST + 2A3 + Fostex 8" Back horn loaded speakers vs Denon TT + Denon 110 MC + Lyrita Phono + 2A3 + Fostex speakers, the difference in the SQ is Night and Day or maybe twice that much.

In the above mentioned comparison, the digital files (FLAC) feel dry, arid and lifeless. However, vinyls + LPP combo produces juicy, weighty, tight, rich and authoritative sound. Vocals have rich tonality and bass is tight and is brilliantly controlled with this phono. I was so skeptical when I was bringing this home about the fact that would there be a palpable difference in the SQ and would it be discernible. All the doubts were laid to rest the moment this tube clad wooden piece of art started singing. Only to give you a fair picture, I have bought numerous LPs since then and now I only feel like listening to vinyls instead of digital files. Most of all I have been listening to all my existing LPs again and I am awestruck every time.

I swear by this phono and am thankful to Viren Sir for producing this Gem. I was never so certain about any purchase that I made, but only after 20 mins of auditioning the LPP, I was sold. I am not familiar with many high end brands and their products but I am sure this amp is second to none. It surely adds a sweet flavour to the music. Vinyls are supposed to be exuding that, innit?

 

[apk]

A couple of months ago or so, I requested Viren Sir to lend me the Lyrita Phono Preamp (LPP) so I could try it in my setup and he graciously agreed for the same. Prior to that I was using the Phono Preamp that Mr. Om and Sachin had put together for me.

I plug in the LPP and holy smokes!! If before that day I said I knew what Vinyls sounded like or what the famous analog warm sound was, I would be lying. Talk about upgrades, this was the biggest upgrade I had made after the Lyrita SET 2A3 amplifier.

Simply put, Weight + Warmth + Lushness + Juice + Succulent = SQ of Lyrita Phono Pre

I give ample credit to the Phono that Mr. Om and Sachin had made for me because in that price range, nothing even comes close to this phono. However, the Lyrita Phono infuses oodles of life into vinyls being played via it. Upon a direct comparison of the same song, when played via my Comp (FLAC Files) + Xonar Essence ST + 2A3 + Fostex 8" Back horn loaded speakers vs Denon TT + Denon 110 MC + Lyrita Phono + 2A3 + Fostex speakers, the difference in the SQ is Night and Day or maybe twice that much.

In the above mentioned comparison, the digital files (FLAC) feel dry, arid and lifeless. However, vinyls + LPP combo produces juicy, weighty, tight, rich and authoritative sound. Vocals have rich tonality and bass is tight and is brilliantly controlled with this phono. I was so skeptical when I was bringing this home about the fact that would there be a palpable difference in the SQ and would it be discernible. All the doubts were laid to rest the moment this tube clad wooden piece of art started singing. Only to give you a fair picture, I have bought numerous LPs since then and now I only feel like listening to vinyls instead of digital files. Most of all I have been listening to all my existing LPs again and I am awestruck every time.

I swear by this phono and am thankful to Viren Sir for producing this Gem. I was never so certain about any purchase that I made, but only after 20 mins of auditioning the LPP, I was sold. I am not familiar with many high end brands and their products but I am sure this amp is second to none. It surely adds a sweet flavour to the music. Vinyls are supposed to be exuding that, innit?

Nice review Kartick. I have heard quite a few of the lyrita products - speakers, SET amps and phono - all at Viren's place during 2-3 visits, and I must say that they sound very good and are fantastic value for money.

 

[john_k_antony]

A couple of months ago or so, I requested Viren Sir to lend me the Lyrita Phono Preamp (LPP) so I could try it in my setup and he graciously agreed for the same. Prior to that I was using the Phono Preamp that Mr. Om and Sachin had put together for me.

I plug in the LPP and holy smokes!! If before that day I said I knew what Vinyls sounded like or what the famous analog warm sound was, I would be lying. Talk about upgrades, this was the biggest upgrade I had made after the Lyrita SET 2A3 amplifier.

Simply put, Weight + Warmth + Lushness + Juice + Succulent = SQ of Lyrita Phono Pre

I give ample credit to the Phono that Mr. Om and Sachin had made for me because in that price range, nothing even comes close to this phono. However, the Lyrita Phono infuses oodles of life into vinyls being played via it. Upon a direct comparison of the same song, when played via my Comp (FLAC Files) + Xonar Essence ST + 2A3 + Fostex 8" Back horn loaded speakers vs Denon TT + Denon 110 MC + Lyrita Phono + 2A3 + Fostex speakers, the difference in the SQ is Night and Day or maybe twice that much.

In the above mentioned comparison, the digital files (FLAC) feel dry, arid and lifeless. However, vinyls + LPP combo produces juicy, weighty, tight, rich and authoritative sound. Vocals have rich tonality and bass is tight and is brilliantly controlled with this phono. I was so skeptical when I was bringing this home about the fact that would there be a palpable difference in the SQ and would it be discernible. All the doubts were laid to rest the moment this tube clad wooden piece of art started singing. Only to give you a fair picture, I have bought numerous LPs since then and now I only feel like listening to vinyls instead of digital files. Most of all I have been listening to all my existing LPs again and I am awestruck every time.

I swear by this phono and am thankful to Viren Sir for producing this Gem. I was never so certain about any purchase that I made, but only after 20 mins of auditioning the LPP, I was sold. I am not familiar with many high end brands and their products but I am sure this amp is second to none. It surely adds a sweet flavour to the music. Vinyls are supposed to be exuding that, innit?

Hi Kartick,

Nice and very interesting review. May I know what Genre of music you listen to from Vinyl? Did you try bass heavy Rock and Hindustani Classical LPs through this phono? How about "crunchy" metal ?

I would assume the vocals to be very rich because of the tube stage. But was it too "rich" or was the vocals presented the way it was?

Does LPP can work with low output MC carts? DL 110 MC is a high output MC cart.

Thanks,
John.

 

[kartick]

Hi Kartick,

Nice and very interesting review. May I know what Genre of music you listen to from Vinyl? Did you try bass heavy Rock and Hindustani Classical LPs through this phono? How about "crunchy" metal ?

I would assume the vocals to be very rich because of the tube stage. But was it too "rich" or was the vocals presented the way it was?

Does LPP can work with low output MC carts? DL 110 MC is a high output MC cart.

Thanks,
John.

Hey John,

I mostly listen to Classic Rock/Folk Rock/Psychedelic Rock/Some Jazz on LPs. I also have a couple of Iron Maiden LPs and have a White Stripes LPs. As far as the bass goes, it is a tad slower in comparison to Solid State amps if you play thrash/speed metal on LPs. But that I guess is an inherent property of the tubes. However, the depth in bass is astounding. It is defined and much much tighter than digital files being directly played via the 2A3.

Coming to the Mids or Vocals, they are lush and rich but I have never found them cloyingly over done. The appear natural and almost makes you kiss the 2A3. This phono compliments the 2A3 so brilliantly. You ought to listen to Sandy Denny's and Joni Mitchell's vocals on this combo. My exposure, as I mentioned earlier, is not that much into high end gear, however this is the best I have heard till date.

Feed in a well recorded/mastered 180gms LP to this LPP and what comes out from the speakers is RICH BLISS. (The rest of the chain is also to be considered obviously).

What really astounds me is once one gets a better turntable and even a better cartridge, what sonic carnage would happen. One is bound to get an EARGASM hyeah:

LPP can most definitely be used with a Low Output MC. Viren sir can provide you with a cine mag transformer. That is an add on and has to be bought separately.

 

[john_k_antony]

Thanks a lot Kartik. I think you listen to pretty much most of the genres I listen to. I also have very limited metal on LPs. I also prefer them on the SS system.

Thanks,
John.

 

[heliumflight]

The sound signature of Bryston preamp and lyrita tube preamp are 2 opposites. Listen and decide what you like.