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I noticed a similar effect on older Jazz recordings which too were slightly lightened by the Audiomatus, gaining freedom, vividness and not so much higher but rather easier-to-notice resolution. The picture was different with more modern audiophile recordings. Here the little better saturation and midrange weight of the ModWright resulted in the TP-01 sounding slightly thinner by comparison. It was not however the kind of thinning that might be pointed out as drawback. It just didn’t do certain things as well as—which I only learned later—its more than twice as expensive competitor.


Comparing acoustic guitar recordings I had to give the nod to the ModWright which above anything else offered better lengthier decays than the TP-01. Again this does not imply that the latter fell short—there were decays all right—only that they were less extended. The guitar body clearly marked its presence in the creation of sound but it was slightly smaller than over my reference preamp. These are nuances justified by the difference in price but at this stage I was not yet aware of the price discrepancy so I tried to catch even the slightest difference in sound.

The Polish preamp also built the soundstage differently. First it was a little further away as if set back slightly behind the speaker line. On the same recordings, especially live cuts, I felt like I was sitting 2-3 rows further away from the stage. This had its pros and cons. The advantage of a slightly deeper perspective with any image including music lies in an easier grasp of the whole even after giving it merely a quick glance or casual ear. The ModWright presents the same recordings a bit more in your face which makes the listener more focused on what happens in the foreground. With the Audiomatus the foreground of course also plays an important but not as predominant role. Going back to showing the soundstage from a little more remote perspective, it seems obvious that this entails certain consequences. Some details seem to elude us. The point is not that these details are gone but rather more difficult to pick up. They are less obvious than being shown up close. Tit for tat. It's not a matter of a different class of sound but rather a different perspective on the same music and ultimately about listener preferences.


The latter may in part result from the kind music one usually listens to and in part from how one likes the music to be presented - up close or from a certain distance. The TP-01 may be a better choice for symphonic music because it makes it easier to take in a large ensemble, not to mention the above-average dynamics of the preamp which would serve large orchestral fare well. If one were a fan of studying each and every instrument separately, one might prefer the ModWright which presents everything a little closer to make it easier to get into the musical fabric. While we are on about splitting hairs, although macrodynamics were a plus for the Audiomatus, the LS100 had slightly better micro-dynamics, offering just a bit more nuances or plankton which sometimes determines the superiority of one performance over another, of one pressing over another.

I would prefer the ModWright for small ensembles or vocal music because that requires close attention on the foreground as the part of the soundstage which wants to be presented most accurately, most tangibly, the rest simply being background. Both preamps were doing great with accurately placing individual sounds on the stage and properly defining their size, with the Audiomatus perhaps even enjoying a slight edge with the latter. As befits tube devices, both presented events in a vivid convincingly tangible way. This included not only the already mentioned rendering of distance between instruments and soundstage depth in general but also of the venue itself and its reverb signature. In these respects the two preamps went head to head.

Conclusion. Looking at these two machines (the reviewed and reference units), I'd say that the Audiomatus offers slightly more neutral tonality with faster more energetic springy bass, a slightly less saturated but still very good colorful midrange and a slightly lighter fresher more 'joyful' treble. It also offers brilliant dynamics, almost perfect pace & rhythm and a purity and clarity of sound rarely heard with tube machines. Moreover the unit is very very quiet. Tubes often generate a little noise or gentle hum—something usually goes on at least on highly sensitivity speakers—but here there was nothing but silence from the speakers. Even the unit itself did not hum and I've clearly heard transformers on far more expensive decks go off. These may seem like trifles but they prove that Mr. Matusiak attaches great importance to the small details.