When Things Sound Similar


If you continue down this sentence, I m about to say something outrageous. For the most part, Audio components sound similar. Not the same, but Similar.

Take for example, the early Audio Research, Conrad Johnson and Dynanco products. They all sound similar: warm sweet midrange, slight lack of detail, rich, fat low end. You could say the same about Byrston and Mark Levinson.

Then you get a product that does not sound similar. These are few. The Ming Da MC 2A3 preamp is one of those products. It just does not sound like anything I heard before.

The Ming Da MC 2A3 is a series of paradoxes. For so many tubes, it does not sound tube like. For such a nice preamp, you cannot select inputs from the remote, and for the price/performance, well, its stupid cheap.

When I look at the preamp and see those tubes, I cannot imagine what it does - and that is, straight wire with gain. I am expecting a lush over rich, over ripe presentation. Instead I get a wonderful presentation of music, gobs of detail and a a slight, ever so slight warmth.

Another paradox is that it has no controversy. From the email we get from people we trust with good ears, it a unanimous vote. The Ming Da MC 2A3 is so out there, there are very few things in the less than 10K price range, that sound similar to it.