Exceptional presence, clarity, and pinpoint accuracy
The ability to drive multiple amps
Build quality other than the flimsy cabinet
Top quality electronic parts and as few as possible

Flimsy cabinet
Not available
Not impressive looking for a list price of $1200 a decade ago.

I have tried several preamps from Classe, other fine Audire preamps and have heard many systems over the years, and I agree with the other reviewer: You can't beat this preamp. When compared to the Audire Legato, which I also have, and the Diffet 1a which I owned for two decades, and even the Classe, MacIntosh and Mark Levinson preamps my friends have exchanged within our systems, the Audire is the best by far. The Legato is absolutely crystal clear, but certain parts of the music, such as background piano or trumpet, are much more pronounced with the Diffet 3. One look inside and you see why: the power supply caps are larger than most 100-200 watt per channel amps. Where the Diffet 1a and Legato lose some presence of the background voices, the Diffet 3 just shines. While Mark L and Classe do excel in this area, they spread the sound around too much, as if creating space that was not there and thereby smearing the points of music that should stay put in their place. (I do not think this is true of the John Curl designs.) Where MacIntosh has the presence, it loses out in pinpoint accuracy. It's a shame you will never find one for sale. I was lucky!

Customer Service

Hard to find. Julius retired a decade ago. Was only sold in five states.

Similar Products Used:

Audire Diffet 1a, Legato, Classe, Mark Levinson, Crown, Carver, Phase Linear,

Open, transparent,yet great bass

Build quality

This the cleanest,most transparent preamp I've ever heard, bar none. At least as good as the Adcom GFP-750. Very airy at the top end. No grain anywhere. Nice solid bass. No boxiness in the midrange.

Build quality is so-so. The inputs are gold-plated, but rather flimsy. The sheet metal is very thin, as is the rack mount style faceplate.

You can get these pretty cheap, when you can find one. An unsung hero.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GFP-750, McCormack ALD, Classe CP-35