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Visual inspection. Postal delivery from Geneva arrived double-boxed as shown. Given compact size and low weight, the Pre2 should arrive safely no matter where you live or how rough your delivery people get.


The colour match of the signature gray anodized face plate with my 1-year old Job 225 was very close. Changed were the width of the logo traces (the Pre2's were broader); and the amp's flat black paint for the casing had gone shiny gloss for the preamp. Unless you're very particular about such things, I'd say close enough.


Even the metal (yes!) remote with its 3V Lithium #2032 coin battery did a nice job mirroring this two-tone colour scheme.


Ditto for the yellow power LEDs. Mine had exactly the same hue and intensity. As to power switch, the Pre2 ain't got one. With its 6.5-watt power draw, it's meant to be on permanently. In my book that's a good thing. My Esoteric C-03 transistor pre takes about a day to fully come on song after an extended vacation.


Socketry is robust and properly chassis mounted but unmarked. Looking at the piece from the front, the left-most input is N°3. Mute on the remote confirms as a flashing power light. Without a display you'll obviously have no clue where the volume sits if someone other than yourself finished the last session. Since the stepped optical encoder rotates endlessly, there's no mechanical stop either to signify full attenuation. Hold the down button on the remote for a bit—the volume control won't turn since it's not motorized—just to be on the safe side if you have concerns.

If you hadn't seen those apparently chintzy plastic terminals on the Job 225 yet, they're exactly the same as found throughout the very dear Goldmund Telos range. During my visit I'd asked Michel Reverchon whether they ever got grief for that choice. "All the time." He merely shrugged a "so what" with his shoulders. Despite the obvious trophy aspects of luxury anythings, Goldmund clearly aren't concerned with bling. This is the best-sounding terminal they've found. Hence it gets used systematically from entry-level to top model.

With my ~93dB Swiss tone-wood speakers and a personal propensity for lower levels, I had no issues with the Job duo even for whisper sessions. You can repeatedly trigger the up/down membrane controls of the remote for individual 'steps'—you won't hear any relay clicks—or keep your finger pressed until you've hit your desired level. The wand's reach is phenomenal. I could stand at our flat's entry door 10 meters away and reliably mute or change volume. Compact, basic and unfashionably 'low rent' the Pre2 might be but operationally it really left little to be desired save perhaps for a display and a second pre-out for us subwoofer hounds. The latter is nothing a metal Y-connector couldn't fix. The former could be fixed easily with a higher sell price. On that count I think most would side with Goldmund's decision.

With spare Artesania Audio EMI/RF-absorbing mass dampers just because I had 'em...
If I had suffered any subliminal suspicions that two fast circuits would add to Miss Twiggy sonics, I'd have been mistaken. First impressions suggested nothing of the sort. Of course my speakers don't rely on any tonal or textural padding. Being cellulose-based widebanders in a solid-wood chassis designed just like a guitar body, they've been deliberately tweaked for those qualities. To chase down any Miss Twiggy tendencies, I'd need very different kinds of boxes. Fortuitously my funds were close to being wired to Italy to pay for my new Albedo Audio Aptica all-ceramic floorstanders.


That's the kind of very transient-obsessed transducer which on the wrong electronics could get uncomfortably brisk and incisive. I was very curious myself.