This is a review and detailed measurements of The Truth Pre Amp (its real name). It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $1,050. There are other options which increase the cost.
The version sent to me is an earlier one I am told with dual inputs (labels are wrong by the way):
There is a nice textured paint on the front panel which doesn't quite come out correctly on the image above. The two controls are for balance and volume. Strangely the max setting for the volume is where you see.
The back panel as Dave Jones would say is "how you doing:"
It is quite low budget for this pricing. Like the fact that AC mains is built-in. Don't like the fact that it has no regulatory certification (kind of the norm in this category of product).
The truth implies transparency. Let's measure it to see if it gets there.
The Truth Pre Amp Measurements
As usual we start with our 1 kHz dashboard using unity gain (2 volts in and 2 volts out). This required max setting on the volume, i.e. this preamp can only attenuate, it cannot amplify:
Well, this is not my definition of transparency. We have good bit of distortion which limits performance to about 14 bits in digital audio terms.
SNR is better though although one channel seems to be noisier than the other:
The right side is a new test where I adjust the volume to 1/4 output and measure again. This way we can see the effect of residual noise better and are simulating someone listening at less than max volume.
Frequency response is excellent with wide bandwidth:
I was surprised that crosstalk was not frequency sensitive and not that good:
Seems like there is some coupling on purpose between the channels??? Strange.
IMD test shows that prior to getting to max output performance starts to suffer:
This is due to low frequency distortion rising:
THD+N versus frequency shows performance that is well below (cheaper) competition:
Conclusions
Let's get the obvious out of the way: The Truth Amp does not speaker the truth! It adds its own noise and distortion. It is definitely not competitive with squeaky clean design we have access to today that have considerably less noise and distortion while costing less. That would normally lead to a "headless panther" rating but I felt generous and gave it one step higher because it is not broken like some other designs are. That, and the fact that the headless panther was helping with weeding in the garden today and wasn't in a mood to be in the picture. So I left him alone so he could search for his head....
Needless to say, I cannot recommend the The Truth Pre Amp.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The version sent to me is an earlier one I am told with dual inputs (labels are wrong by the way):
There is a nice textured paint on the front panel which doesn't quite come out correctly on the image above. The two controls are for balance and volume. Strangely the max setting for the volume is where you see.
The back panel as Dave Jones would say is "how you doing:"
It is quite low budget for this pricing. Like the fact that AC mains is built-in. Don't like the fact that it has no regulatory certification (kind of the norm in this category of product).
The truth implies transparency. Let's measure it to see if it gets there.
The Truth Pre Amp Measurements
As usual we start with our 1 kHz dashboard using unity gain (2 volts in and 2 volts out). This required max setting on the volume, i.e. this preamp can only attenuate, it cannot amplify:
Well, this is not my definition of transparency. We have good bit of distortion which limits performance to about 14 bits in digital audio terms.
SNR is better though although one channel seems to be noisier than the other:
The right side is a new test where I adjust the volume to 1/4 output and measure again. This way we can see the effect of residual noise better and are simulating someone listening at less than max volume.
Frequency response is excellent with wide bandwidth:
I was surprised that crosstalk was not frequency sensitive and not that good:
Seems like there is some coupling on purpose between the channels??? Strange.
IMD test shows that prior to getting to max output performance starts to suffer:
This is due to low frequency distortion rising:
THD+N versus frequency shows performance that is well below (cheaper) competition:
Conclusions
Let's get the obvious out of the way: The Truth Amp does not speaker the truth! It adds its own noise and distortion. It is definitely not competitive with squeaky clean design we have access to today that have considerably less noise and distortion while costing less. That would normally lead to a "headless panther" rating but I felt generous and gave it one step higher because it is not broken like some other designs are. That, and the fact that the headless panther was helping with weeding in the garden today and wasn't in a mood to be in the picture. So I left him alone so he could search for his head....
Needless to say, I cannot recommend the The Truth Pre Amp.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/