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Moving on to how the VRE-1 sounds, I could tell you right off that the unit had no sound of itself. Or that it is that proverbial straight wire with gain reviewers rave about, therefore the perfect preamplifier. Done. Box checked. Yet that would be a terrible disservice to you and SM; to let you believe that the VRE-1 just disappears like a well-bred preamp is supposed to do. The VRE-1 in the first place has no gain -- so much for the 'wire and gain' cliché -- but more importantly, it made my system better. Or more accurately, it made my music come even more alive. The VRE-1 refused to disappear and that is a good thing because it contributed instead on all fronts to blend the system in a more synergistic whole and serve the music with a more heightened level of veracity.


True, it had no sound of itself that I could identify. The VRE-1 was as neutral and transparent as the very best passive preamplifiers, delivering the most exact tonal nuances I have heard from my system. But it did so with drive, control, resolution and bass prowess reminiscent of the very best active units. Throw in the widest and deepest soundstage ever to grace my listening room and fully tri-dimensional imaging as the cherry on top and you have a component that's one of a kind at this price - and possibly at any price.

But if the VRE-1 was just about exactitude and control, it would be no more exciting than many other flat-measuring preamplifiers that have appeared and disappeared over the last forty years. The difference that designing gear for thirty years and spending five years refining the VRE-1 make in the final result is the ability to preserve the emotional intent of the musicians, the intensity of that second when the music was created without having to rely on any external or artificial tricks, without adding any undue harshness, dryness or sharpness but without smoothing things over either. If you've read Srajan's review of the Esoteric C-03 preamplifier, you can take everything he wrote about elegance and refinement and apply it to the VRE-1 - with the notable exception that where the Esoteric errs slightly on the warmer and richer side of neutrality, the VRE-1 had no coloration that I could hear, neither warm nor cold, just pure tonal accuracy and elegance personified.


The biggest challenge in finishing this review were actually my writing skills and how to credibly convey that a preamplifier with really no sound of its own which completely eradicates distortion can at the same time dive into the deepest emotions of the music and make them surface with more intensity than before. Traditionally this last quality is associated with the best tube electronics. Or the warmth of solid-state operating in pure class A. Yet when one gets to hear true transparency not plagued by distortion or harshness, one actually gets to experience even truer musicality.

Admittedly this path to musicality has two drastic prerequisites that make the challenge far greater than "just" designing the perfect preamplifier. The system around it must be of the same philosophy and quality (I could hardly dream of better matches than the Esoteric P05/D05 and Genesis GR360 amplifier). And, the recordings played must also be flawless as any deviation from perfection will be heard. That said, I found poorly recorded discs to benefit equally from this completely undistorted system, making them quite enjoyable again not in a 'Virtual Reality' but 'Listenable Reality' way. Which was more than I could say for them before (although I do suspect that the main effect came in good part from the particularly refined treble performance of the D05's 32-bit AKM converter).
So now that the writing challenge has been fully acknowledged, I'll give it my best try. The first thing I heard after putting the VRE-1 between the Esoteric D05 DAC and the Genesis GR360 monos was deeper bass. I quickly realized though that bass what not just deeper but far better controlled than driving the amplifiers directly. I can't exactly recall what the first disc was but I know that I quickly follow-up with two of my usual bass torture tests to confirm first impressions. Starting with Music for Two by Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, the colossal straight bass depth, the feeling of powerful yet finely articulated bass was obvious from the go. The resulting impression was that the upright was better defined, more detailed and slightly less booming through its range, more tonally real and also more convincing in physical size. It was not a huge difference but that between perfect woofer control and a slight inaccuracy, the
difference between the woody, raucous sound of Meyer's bass live and a very good reproduction thereof. Listening analytically for a minute, what I noticed was far more presence from the very small wooden harmonics generated by the body of the instrument. Those are very faint and normally lost within the main sound of the strings. With the VRE-1, the added focus allowed the faint wooden echoes to surface for the first time, putting the last touch to the interpretational veracity.

One constant impact of adding the VRE-1 to my system was that it increased the closeness to the artists and their instruments, the tactile feeling that if I could just extend my arm a little further, I would touch them. While I was captivated by Meyer's textured bass, I could not help noticing at the same time that Bela's Banjo had more of that metallic twang as though I had suddenly moved a few rows closer during a concert. Paradoxically both musicians did not seem larger. They kept the same size and perspective but got more defined as if imbued with more substance. One very nice side benefit of such transparency was the ability to listen at much reduced levels without losing information or scale. Since I do a lot of my listening between 5am and 9am when everybody still sleeps in the house, this quality quickly became addictive.
The disc I moved to next, Copland conducts Copland [Sony SK90403], is an audiophile classic. The "Fanfare for a common Man" is ideal to assess slam, dynamics, realism of percussive impacts and ability to handle the huge energy of a brass fanfare playing with no restraints. One day at an audiophile event, I even witnessed somebody moving from system to system only listening to the first 20 seconds of this disc at ear-splitting levels and commenting on how the timbale impacts were not rendered realistically. I would have happily kicked him out. The pity is that for once, Sony did a beautiful job re-mastering the original tapes of this particularly well-made recording, offering us not only concert-like dynamics but also a very fine rendition of instrumental colors and a level of detail quite uncommon on CD. In all fairness, I bought the disc to help me in my reviewer's duties. Now I listen to it because it's one of the very best performances of Copland's masterpieces available on disc.


With the SMc preamplifier, I noticed a similar effect of control and tightening of the bass as on the previous disc; the same depth and greater weight of the timbales impacts - but also better definition, more detail, more nuances than when the amplifiers were driven direct. To be more specific, I was surprised by how much harmonic resonance could be heard coming off the timbales after the initial blows, an almost metallic sound persisting for seconds after the percussive impact that had remained unnoticed before. The brass sections gained similarly in further brassiness and subtle hues despite being played at far higher levels than I usually enjoy.

If you have any worry about this no-gain preamplifier limiting explosive dynamics, worry no more. If your amplifier is up to the task and the total system gain sufficient, the VRE-1 will not restrain or stifle dynamics. Those opening percussions exploded from the speakers better even than when driven by the very muscular Musical Fidelity A5 - and far more realistically than when the Genesis GR360s were driven DAC direct. On those initial impacts, one could easily tell the contribution of the active buffer to the overall performance of the preamplifier. I can confidently say that the VRE-1 will not leave most listeners wanting for slam or dynamic contrasts. Should you find yourself a little short on gain, move to the +6dB VRE-1 which I've been told trades ultimate transparency and neutrality for a slightly more forward feeling on voices, a trait many might actually find desirable.