Warm, tubey nirvanna. Unbelievable bargain.

Typical weakness in the bass; "slow" bass.

This preamp is a great, great bargain. The phono preamp is very nice and the line stage is top quality. This is a very tube-y preamp. It can sound extremely pretty, especially with acoustic and vocal material. Very hard rock sometimes sounds compressed. As usual for most tube gear, bass is a little muddy and "slow." But in any genre you pick, the right recording can make this thing spring to life and deliver truly jaw-crushing bass, as well as soaring, liquid highs. The tubes that come with it are Phillips, not so great. I recommend rolling the tubes almost immediately.