Thank you !! Yes. I wanted to post the review ASAP since onwards so excited. I didn’t want another minute to pass. The pre90 is my most significant upgrade in audio in years.

Is it possible to set individual safe mode for each input? I would like to use the RCA input and connect it with the pre out of an avr in a HT system and the XLR to a Dac in a stereo system. Therefore the input volume needs to be different. Is it also possible to fix the input volume? Thanks

How do you find it after 4 months??

@Geared4me how is your long term experience with the pre90. Thanks

@@johannderi2552 Unfortunately no

Your welcome !! Enjoy !!!

Thanks, it was your review! I instantly hopped on it. Thank you!

@Audfile how is your long term experience with the pre90 and what was the preamp that you replaced it with. Thanks

once again just be more careful with sound combinations since highends are very accurate thus very sensitive to changes, and expensive

but lessfox one just basically highend desktop amp, works well with basically anything

Also owning the m400 and having used usb (what should be more exact, than check-summed digital parcels, right?) I recently changed the input to the Allo digione signature "streaming" from an usb flash drive using Volumio. This will surely surprise you as well! All the high res I put through usb was blown out of the water by simple 44khz flacs via coaxial. I'm currently waiting for my PRE90 ... :-) - thanks for saying, that it matches good with the M400. Cheers!

How do you find the remote control? Is very inaccurate?

You’re most welcome I’m glad you enjoy the review that means a lot to me

@@HighStrungAudio can I be a little nosey and ask what speakers you use in the A22/Pre 90/S300 setup?

@@JosephTongret I have a few pairs but Mostly Revel F208.

@@HighStrungAudio oh wow, I just sold my F208's maybe two months ago, actually to begin funding the new system build. They were my "reference" speakers(I also have a few pairs of lesser expensive speakers) . They were beautiful and performed extremely well in all technical aspects, but I had the Walnut finish which really didn't fit my aesthetics and decor very well. I also just got a little bored with them too. They just weren't "exciting" sounding or as "engaging" as some other speakers I've had or heard that maybe didn't measure as well on paper. I got them at a really great price, so I was able to keep them for a year and still make a little money in the end. I've been a music lover my whole life, but I'm only a few years into this hobby as far as the system building goes, so I'm still trying all the flavors of sound out there and kind of finding what best suits me. I'm going to purchase a pair of Tekton's first for this build but not completely sure which model yet. Eric has so many that it's going to require a phone call on my behalf to get a better idea of which model I'd like. Sorry for the ramble, I'm just always curious about what components people use. I appreciate your time and effort with the videos you've been doing and I'll be looking forward to following you if you continue with channel. I've considered sharing my journey, but YT can be a rough place and it takes a lot of guts and a lot of uncompensated work to do it!

@@HighStrungAudio PS... Do you have a PayPal account I can send a donation through? I don't see anything about it in your channel page, but I'd like to contribute.

It's probably a psicological effect: The piece of mind that your preamp will NEVER distort before your amp is destroyed.

If you like the P90 you would love the new SMSL HO200. Insane clarity !!! Review coming soon.

@@HighStrungAudio how is the soundstage compared to the pre90 ?

@@zelareka Very Good Question !! Stay tuned for the review. That question will be answered in detail !!

Don’t believe everything you hear. Speaker cables, speakers, interconnects all play a role. The Aries 2 benefits from the pre90 in my testing. I have not tested the original Aries as there are some differences. Pre90 is now bested by the SMSL HO200 for a more clear and wider sound stage overall better sound. Pre90 will complement Bright class D Amps.

Lol !

Did you experience an improved SQ from the Pre90 aa compared to direct from D90?

I have a D90SE coming and was thinking about the Pre90 - so you can recommend then?

Yes ! Since the pre90 will have a much higher output voltage with either output on the d90 ! Also the output impedance is lower as well making a better match. The Keces will benefit by becoming more dynamic and lively as your lifting the burden off the amp.

Yes !! It’s true. I noticed the same thing !! Great observation !! Thanks for your important contribution to this thread !!

Your thoughts? because to me it sounds like it’s about 10 DB louder give or take and for some weird reason I find it opens up the sound even though it’s louder obviously correct me if I’m wrong but it sounds like faster little bit cleaner and more dynamic the bass hits harder like the sound in general improves do you think that’s possible what’s your thoughts on that or do you think it sounds the same. I mean when you switch back over you have to crank up the volume a little bit more to match but the end result do you think it’s about the same sound quality it’s bizarre I never seen a preamplifier do such a thing like this and I’m wondering how it’s getting more power more gain this way when I’m not even using RCA

Any new insights?

Break-in has nothing to do with specs. You cannot measure break in.

@@HighStrungAudio that’s convenient 😀

You measure the product, then use it for x amount of hours. Then you measure it again to see the massive difference. Sound simple to me !.

You’re going to love it, but keep in mind it sounds significantly better using XLR outputs to the amplifier. You may use RCA for inputs but make sure it’s a good quality one. Trust me on this tip it makes a significant difference

@@HighStrungAudio My Amp an Atoll AM100se only has RCA inputs. Should Use I use a XLR to RCA cable? If not will an rca connection still give me a sound improvement? Thank you.

How do you like it?

It’s one pre in chain at a time for me. I use different setups depending on my moods. The Schiit Freya It’s not as good spec wise as the pre90 but sounds great in tube mode if set up with a proper amp like my odyssey khartago. For some reason there is a synergy between those two.

Power amp is Keces S300

@@HighStrungAudio someone watches SoundNews

Thanks!

Yes. And in those 30 years you've learned nothing.

Pre90 better than a90 as pre-amp.

The best one is the most transparent one.

No, I’m sorry it’s not even close

@@ParkflyersRC noted thank you, I'm a victim of Topping D90 MQA PLACEBO that's why I ask.

@@ParkflyersRC is the Pre90 transparent sounding?

@@mondipedragosa2300 from the people who say it "greatly enhances the music", the answer is no. transparent is no changes to the signal other than volume increase. I'd say it probably adds some 'life' to the music.

@@herrtrigger7220 I know, like the D90 MQA it does nothing to my system. Thank you!

it doesn't have built in dac

Did you end up buying a pre amp?

@@ohnonate Waiting for a sale price to try it because it would be coming from China so returns are not viable. I want to be able to resell it at not too much of a loss if I don't like it.

Ty ! Not sure as I have never heard that piece.

A pre amp should be flat, if it change the sound in any way it's broken.

@@r423sdex I own Pre90 now and I find it totally transparent to the source. It does not introduce any character into the chain, just reveals qualities of the source but with bigger soundstage and "breath". And with absolute black background. Amazing preamplifier.

It’s always after the DAC.

Sorry. Have not heard the ifi itube. Possible a review coming on that soon.

@@HighStrungAudio I got the Pre 90 today, it's plugged in and warming up, I'll listen tomorrow and report back.

@@Michiganman08 needs about 4-6 hours of break in. Leave it on over night playing ultra low volume.

Where did you order it?

@@Michiganman08 how was your experience with the pre90? Thanks

V550 has a better pre amp section than Pre90 for me. It’s more natural. Thicker sound. The pre90 it’s a tad more open on to end though.

A pre amp should not change the sound. The A90 is flat, so it's transparent. Just like you would want.

Ty charles !!

I am a new subscriber, but I’ve watched several of your videos already and I appreciate your passion! I’ve been in this hobby a long time and it’s really refreshing to have people who are honest in their reviews!!

@@CJ-vh2hf ty. That means a lot.

Both different. Pre90 technically enhances the music to a new level. The quality of the reproduction goes up by a lot. The freya just adds tube sound to music which some people find pleasing. The clarity goes down a bit with freya and the overall tone changes to be less accurate Clarity, frequency range and dynamics are enhanced by the A90.

I love the review but in my experience I’ve been doing A.B. testing and stuff like this for many years and I have quite the set up but I bought this unit to use with a few different dacs and the topping d90 ! The topping being one of my favourite of choice dacs and what I did was only use the topping d90 as a dac only mode no preamplifier turned on inside it and ran it to this to my power amp and then did a record for say 1min and then switched it same gain and same volume but now topping d90 in its dac / preamp mode and what I found was with the 390 in the chain it doesn’t sound better I listen very closely and it seems to add a little bit more distortion and makes the sound maybe a little bit more fuller but by a hair but what I do here is it’s a little bit more cloudy the sound less fast less sharp less detailed which is decently noticeable compared to listening to the D 90 by itself and both modes and using it as a Preamplifier I think adding extra things into the chain degraded the sound for some reason I was surprised but the D 90 sounds better on its own with its own preamp inside then using the dac i’ve even tried this preamplifier with a bluesound node 2i And use this as a volume control instead was the only time it made a slight better improvement sound and that set up with a bluesound this was a better volume control in terms of detail and sound quality by a little but with the topping the d90 it’s a bit of a piss ass and I even reached out to the company that made this topping them self. But it seems to slow down the music and add a very slight delay adding this external Preamplifier then say using the one built in the d90 ! So in my experience I end up selling it the 390 because they didn’t give me better details and clarity and overall better sound then using what was already in the D 90 and it supposed to be better the pre-90 but it slowed everything down made things slightly slightly more muddy and hazy more recessed less sharp less fast the bass ! Maybe I had a defective unit but I doubt it but I wish I got the same experience you did and said this was mine blowing I didn’t think it was worth $2000 so I’m just using the D 90 and it’s preamplifier mode right now sounds faster cleaner sharper more in your face and it just gets out quicker hard to explain there’s no add a delay and by adding any external Preamplifier‘s even if they have such a small amount of distortion levels you still going to hear that when you add some thing else into the chain so it’s usually better in my experience to go as short and fast as direct as you can go dac direct if you can.

@@newton5954 it could be that you’re using RCA inputs and outputs only. The XLR gives a much better sound. You also need to make sure that you’re using high-quality RCA jacks if you’re using the ones that come with the unit or run-of-the-mill it’s going to degrade the sound of Course.

Also it’s important to know what amplifier that you are using you want to make sure that it has a high input ohm rating. What amp are you using ?

Mate clarity is not everything in sound.Tubes literally drag you into a different dimension of the music.I did not compare Freya against that Pre90,but i guarantee you Freya will destroy it...Tube Preamp is a must with SSD Power Amp!In my opinion Preamps should be used for spaciousness of the sound and separation of the instruments and sounds in music not just for clarity.And that is most achievable with tubes!

Why does it suck??? Give some details about how it sounds?????