it fairs wonderfully with vocals and stringed instruments. I find that the built in pre does not command the bass as well as the pre out on the Oppo, but it's of no consequence because I have the option of using either Aurora Pro Mobile Mechanic

None , ,

The preamp is remotely controlled with a large fluorescent green digital readout of source and volume. The remote covers all of the 99's functions, but it is covered in rows of anonymous buttons, which are nearly impossible to keep straight in the dark.

Vinyl Fencing couldn't get an answer as to whether they switch out of the circuit when not in use, but I think they do since I could detect their presence in the form of a bit of veiling when used, and because the EQ switch must be turned on in order to use any of the equalization settings.

Build quality, sound, ease of use and mates well with any source component or amp. mates especially well to other Quad "99" gear. All aluminum construction and standby mode which keeps it warm with a trickle charge but draws almost no wattage.

On-Off switch in back is hard to find and you have to fiddle around for it. Better to keep it in stand by. Hard to read display from a distance or maybe it's my poor eyesight?

Very well made preamp with "state of the art" digital volume control running in the analog domain. Functions can be controlled via remote or front panel. 5 inputs, 1 output, and MM/MC phono stage which is supposed to be of very high quality.

Customer Service

Excellent and very easy to reach. Very willing to speak with you on all matters.

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Midrange space/depth/imaging. Features. Non-fatiguing, open sound. Insanely cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Volume control steps could be finer. Bass might be tighter. Dynamics could be better. Limited number of inputs and tight spacing of rear panel jacks.

I love my little quad. Great features, flawless operation. I find imaging is great, very detailed but doesn't sound at all analytical or what you might expect "detailed" to sound like. Rather, it has incredible presence, especially in the midrange and lower mids, and allows you to hear deep into the space of the recording without strain - almost like every instrument has its own amp. Imaging is great, imo - palpable would be the word. Vocals have incredible presence and purity with no bloating on the low end or hardness up top. Bass is very solid, if perhaps a little sluggish - but that could be my speakers in my small room - very good control in the bass, though perhaps not as "taught" as some preamps (which i suspect is a coloration on their part). Treble doesn't jump out and definitely isn't harsh - but is sweet, transparent, delicate even. If your idea of audiophile is limited to realistically hard, dynamic cymbal crashes, this may not be the preamp for you - but on the other hand, the sound is totally un-hard and un-fatiguing, even with crappy recordings. The quality of the treble is hard to describe. Blows away everything in its price range, with the possible exception of the adcom 750, which i haven't heard. but the adcom lacks remote and tilt controls. Input sensitivity selection is nice feature - and i swear, some recordings sound better with the sensitivity set at 100, some better at 300. it's kinda like having two preamps in that respect. i love it.

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lots of very well thought out features (see above) and very good sound.

I hate the back of the unit. It is very hard to plug and unplug the interconnects.

I would not profess to having auditioned a bunch of pre amps before settling on this one. In fact I did not audition any other pre amp. Reading the review by Paul Seydor in TAS is what got my attention. I can say that I have used some very fine equipment in my home and this is one fine little pre amp(maybe not SOTA but very very good and extremely user friendly). However when you factor in the features that it has including a very fine phono stage (it replaced a stand alone unit), along with very usuable tone controls, balance control,adjustable input sensitivities for each input and a very nice remote, it is hard to go wrong. Now that the price has come down I think it would be hard to find a better pre amp with the features this one has for anywhere near the price.

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Nothing recently

Wonderful tonal quality and easy to listen too.

I don''t want to go much now!

I have the 909 and 99 preamp. The tonal quality is excellent. Not quite as open as the Quad valves (which I could not afford). I use the musical fidelity A3 cd (I found it gives a little more detailed sound than the 99 cd player) with 989 speakers. This combination is wonderful

Transparent, clean, no obvious grain, good bass and soundstage

nothing t the price

I am using this power amp with the Croft Vitale valve pre-amp and I find the pair extremely musical and entertaining. It's very smooth, with very realistic midband. Treble is sweet and you can pinpoint every nonsense from the recordings very easily. What makes that system special is the fact that there is almost no signs of the digital disadvantages and faults. All the instruments are easy to identify, having their natural color and texture. Even the most badly recorded rock is now listenable to great extend. The power amp itself is powerful, weighty, smooth and accurate. Something that characterise the Quad brand.

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Features: input sensitvity settings

Soundstage, appearance.

With 200 hours of playing time behind us, we are hearing a detailed, slightly warm, midrange-accented, dynamic presentation. Burn-in seems nearly finished; the occasional bursts of "extra" reverb or hollowness have ceased. We're very pleased with the sound. This preamp has tamed our very live room. Nothing else for the price touched it. We do wish that we had a few more low volume settings; the McCormack beat this product in that regard.

Associated Equipment:
REGA Planet 2000
McCormack DNA-125 pwr amp
JMLab Electra 915.1 speakers
Audioquest interconnects
Alpha-Core Goertz MI2 speaker cable

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Rogue 66, McCormack RLD-1

Incredible transparency, bowl moving bass, three dimensional soundstage, instrument separation.

Too revealing? VERY sensitive to mains quality, needs $100 feet to sound its best and $500 mains conditioner.

This review covers the 99 pre amp and 909 power amp.

First of all the 909 power amp. This is about as straight and as neutral as a power amp should be. It produces 240W into 4 ohms as cleanly as possible. I haven't heard a power amp costing less than three times as much that sounded better; but do I really want to spend mega bucks when I can have this for $1200?

I was ready to throw the 99 pre out the window, you see, it wasn't sounding anything like the way it did when I auditioned it at the shop. It was terrible, tight constricted soundstage, hashy vocals.......

Then I read a review elsewhere that stated that the 99 was very sensitive to the mains and supporting feet. So I isolated the unit with a Lynwood mega power supply. I was floored, the pre amp completley openned up, detail flooded into my room. Then I tried Daruma feet, and again the sound improved, although by a much smaller ammount.

I've auditioned much more expensive pre amps, and I was prepared to buy them, but now I know better. Yes I had to spend $600 extra just to get the unit to sing, but it's still far cheaper than some of the things I've listened to; and many of these failed to live up to their price tag.

There comes a point when the returns per buck diminish and the 99 is right on that point.

You would be a fool to buy the 99 pre and 909 power combo on my recommendation, but you would be an even bigger fool if you didn't audition them first before buying your next pre or power amp.

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Meridian, Nad, Musical Fidelity, Headroom.