Balanced Audio Technology VK-53SE Preamplifier Silver Reviews

5 Rating 1 Reviews

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909.931.9686

Email:

joel.m@upscaleaudio.com

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2058 Wright Avenue,
2058 Wright Avenue
California
91750

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Thad Davidson

Verified Reviewer

“Short summary: The VK-53SE is one of the world's finest preamps. It is the best preamp I have ever owned and the best I have ever listened to. It has no flaws that I am aware of. It is worth every penny of its retail price, which I do not find to always be the case with other world class audio gear. It is my view that financial sanity should play a role in the purchase of high-end gear, and to that end I find the BAT-VK53SE to be far more worthy and valuable to me than its not inconsiderable, but still arguably sane (in my mind) retail price. This is a great piece of gear. Buy one and be happy the rest of your days. Background: I have been buying, trading and listening to audio gear for more than the last two decades. I have listened to some great equipment over the years, and have owned some very fine equipment. In July of this year, my house burned down; I lost my audio systems. These consisted of B&W 801s, Audio Physic Avanti IVs (from a decade ago, not the current version), a Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) VK-33SE preamp, a BAT VK-75SE amp, a McIntosh solid state amp, and various other high-end components (including a BAT VK-42SE and a BAT VK-300X) divided into different systems, one for my critical listening in my work as a composer, the other for pleasure and to serve as a comparative listening system . All destroyed in the fire. Weeks after the fire, I called Kevin Deal, with whom I had done buy and trading of gear over the years, While my insurance company was decent to me, Kevin was much more than decent to me. Quite frankly, the man who wears T-shirts, the guy with the weird accent, who owns Upscale Audio, was a saint to me. Kevin Deal is an AUDIO SAINT. I'm in my new house now, where my old one stood, with two new audio systems to replace the ones I had. From Upscale Audio, and after consulting with Kevin and remembering just how exquisite and fine the VK-33SE preamp was, he and I struck a deal. I now own a VK-53SE preamp, a VK-255SE amp, and a Lumin S1 network media player. My speakers for this system, which I acquired after extensive research, months of searching and lots of bargaining, are Sonus Faber Amati Homages which I bought used but in mint condition. (I consider the Amati Homage speakers to be so impossibly beautiful to look at that it is almost irrelevant that they are also world class speakers. The Italians: they can't help but create beauty and I love them for it.) The BAT VK-33SE was a fabulous preamp, the best I've owned. It had no flaws. I could have been happy to live with it for the rest of the days. But the VK-53SE is better, although this was not a instant five-minutes-of-listening revelation, but rather a conclusion I arrived at after about five weeks of serious listening. The 53SE is the now best preamp I have ever listened to. I consider it to be one of the world's finest preamps, and I have owned Audio Research and McIntosh over the years and have also listened at length to Spectral, Conrad Johnson and Mark Levinson gear owned by friends. I am an attorney, but I am also a professional musician and composer. I have listened critically to music, both live and recorded, for nearly the last five decades. What the BAT VK-53SE does as well or better than anything else: The treble and midrange are exquisite. Brilliantly clean. But you should let the preamp burn-in for a few weeks after you purchase it, and always let it warm up for at least 35-45 minutes before any critical listening session, before it reaches peak performance. It will take a few weeks. The bass is lightning fast and coal miner deep. Yes, the 53SE is a tube preamp, and some people believe a solid state high-end preamp can be "faster" on transient sounds than a tube preamp, and have better, deeper bass, but the 53SE plays music as it was performed and recorded, including my own music, accurately capturing and producing every intention and meaning the composers and musicians put into the score, the performance and the recording. One cannot ask for more than this. I could write pages about the VK-53SE, but I don't need to: it is the best preamp I have ever owned. It has no flaws. It ranks among the best in the world. It is worth every penny. (And it is stunning to look at, too. Mine is the silver finish, which I highly recommend.) Call Kevin. Let him be an audio saint to you.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago