$30K BAT Preamp - worth it?

[A Surfer]

Would love me some Spec 1 kit no doubt about it.

 

[egellings]

Wealthy mega-yacht owners who are into audio may think nothing of dropping that amount of money on the BAT preamp. Hey, get a couple for the kids! The problem arises when a rabid audiophool get sucked in buys this and his wife & kids go hungry. As for the BAT, well, it's just batty. No need for a small signal preamp to cost that much, even if it has a gold plated toilet paper holder mounted on its side.

 

[tvrgeek]

Don't even have to go out on a limb. No preamp is worth more than a few hundred bucks unless you get silly with features we don't really need. Too easy. Even the ones around a grand are playing games. Sorry John, the JC-1 was maybe the best for 20 years, but that was a long time ago. A $5 chip can match it now.

I actually find my old Nakamichi to be very pleasant to use. If it wasn't so big, I probably would go back to it from my new Asgard.

 

[Harmonie]

No relation/Off topic:
I much more enjoyed the YouTube video that follows that 30K$ BAT pre - it's a morality lesson too !
A thought about @restorer-john - do you restore like that ?

 

[DSJR]

Foolishly? Back when the UK got access to the Pioneer Spec pre and power, we ignored it in favour of Naim..............

You can make a prefectly great line stage with a couple of chips and a handful of passive components. A decent low noise supply, an input selction and volume system and off you go. Schiit seem to have it good with the solid state preamps they make/made I reckon.

This BAT confection isn't for the real world, but even in these often troubled times, there seems to be a collection of wealthy audiophiles (audiophools?) with the funds to indulge - may be a nice cachet/status upgrade on an ARC Reference I suppose (how many generations of ARC Reference and they STILL can't get it right? )

 

[mathman]

Oh, so this is the origin of the term "BATshit crazy" !

 

[anmpr1]

No relation/Off topic: I much more enjoyed the YouTube video that follows that 30K$ BAT pre - it's a morality lesson too !

That's what I like to see. When I encounter old Peavey (and similar) gear I want to see it dirty, beat up, abused. Only then can you know that it's been loved hard. That's the mark of a real pro oriented amplifier!

 

[egellings]

Likely the BAT components are good, but not worth that much money.

 

[Bear123]

I'd rather have a Denon AVR(certainly not a 2 channel DAC, as I don't use headphones so they are useless IMO). I see no need for preamplifiers in general, not if the goal is a high fidelity system.