Pre-Owned and Ex-Demo
About the Signature Preamp
An interesting and very thoughtful design from YBA offering true high-end performance and a great combination of facilities. In particular, this pre serves those who want to build a flexible system that can deliver great digital and analogue performance without compromise. So this pre contains a great line level analogue section, a great onboard MM phono stage, plus the superb CS4398 digital decoding engine from Cirrus Logic. But here's the clever bit, the power to the digital section can be switched on/off depending on the source being used.
The three digital inputs (Coaxial, Toslink and USB) automatically adjust to any of the standard digital-audio data-rates from 16/44.1KHz to 24/192KHz. It can be driven by a PC too, by downloading the driver from YBA (not required for MAC).
The analogue sections are true high end designs, with careful attention paid to regulation, component quality and short signal paths. And whilst this pre does not contain a MC phono section, the MM section is again a great design, offering top performance for MM carts.
Specifications
Gain: +6dB
SNR: >105dB
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz (-0.5dB)
THD+N (20Hz - 20kHz) <0.003%
Inputs: 3 digital signal inputs (USB, Optical Coaxial), 5 RCA analog, 1 Balanced analog, 1 MM Phono
Audio Outputs: 2 RCA and 1 Balanced
DAC: Cirrus Logic Reference CS4398
Power Supply: Linear power supply with high performance transformer 190VA with 112,800 uF power capacitors
Dimensions: (w x d x h) 430 x 388 x 151 mm
Weight: 27.5 kg
The Winters Audio Experience
Wax on, wax off...
So the flexibility of this pre, and the ability to shut down the digital section, is a brilliant solution for someone who wants reference performance from multiple sources. In fact, a real enthusiastic collector springs to mind, someone who has a large vinyl collection, maybe an SACD collection too (with a beloved dedicated player), but who also wants to explore the ever-growing online archives of interesting and rare music.
So plug in a PC, fire up the digital section, and browse away online to your heart's content. Then kick back later, shut down the 'zeros and ones' (and hence all that processing noise), drop the needle on the record and hey presto, you've flipped over to a true all-analogue system. Genius.