The Xindak XA3200 MK2 Preamplifier is the successor of the hugely successful XA3200S vacuum tube line-level preamplifier. Inspired by the legendary Matisse preamplifier, the XA3200MK2 hides it's one 12AX7 tube and one 12AT7 tube per channel inside the chassis.

 

The XA3200 MK2 boasts very high quality components such as Dale resistors from the US, Wima MKP capacitors from Germany, Gotham wiring from Scotland, and gold and silver plated PC boards. Additionally, it uses a motorized ALPS volume control which happens to be found in many of my favorite preamps and integrated amplifiers.

 

The preamp has only four inputs labeled in a very generic way as S1-S4. You'll get used to it over time. We hooked our review sample up with the highest component in the audio rack to S1 and the lowest component to S4 which helped quite a bit for those with bad memories. Vinyl lovers will need to use a separate phono preamp as there are no distinct phono inputs.

 

Build quality and fit and finish nothing short of excellent. Inside the box was a nice bound  manual as well as white gloves for changing tubes. The front bezel is actually 5/16” thick solid aluminum and the chassis is a sturdy metal case. The buttons on the front and the volume knob operate in a slick refined manner. The power cord seems generic and is most likely to be tossed aside like I did. I used both an Audioquest NRG-2 and a Transparent powerlink power cord instead.

 

The preamp comes with the same aluminum block remote as the Xindak XA6950 class A integrated amplifier I purchased last year. I had publicly joked that the remote looked like Gumby and it's buttons operated with a distinct pop when depressed. After owning and using a product with that remote for a year, I actually found it one of my favorites. Better yet, the remote delivered with the XA3200 MK2 buttons behaved flawlessly out of the box. It is quite similar to the remote for the Bryston B100 SST except that the Bryston lights up the buttons when picked up; a sweet and useful feature I wish all my remotes had.

 

Speaking of lighting up, the light from the bright blue LEDs plunked onto the front panel of the preamp is enough to easily view the buttons in the dark. Yup, another audio product accosting the eyes of music lovers with dazzlingly bright blue LEDs. When walking by the listening room at night, it's so bright it looks as if somebody put a TV in my listening room and left it on. I immediately thought this was a deal breaker but I eventually got used to it. My wife, on the other hand, suggested using the “Check Engine Light” fix from the 80's and putting black electrical tape over the LEDs. Somebody needs to remind the hardware engineers that blue LEDs are so much brighter that they need to be attenuated much more severely than they are used to.

 

I ran the preamp for 30 days with the stock tubes before doing any serious listening. During this time, I found the preamp nearly dead silent with no hiss unless you stick your ear up to the tweeter. Switching across inputs was flawless and silent other than a slick relay sound if you listen carefully. Nice! It was evident that preamp has loads of gain. I connected it to both my Hephas and a Forte Model 5 amp and in both cases, I was peeling the paint off the walls or bottoming woofers with the volume half way up. Folks who listen very low late at night will find that getting the correct volume requires very fine adjustment.

 

How does it sound?

 

The sound with the stock tubes has one defining character; Bass to die for. The bass is full bodied and rich without being boomy. Part of the evaluation overlapped with the great sounding, beautiful, and expensive Acoustic Preference Gracioso monitors. The Graciosos have deep and taught bass that slowly drops off down to about 40Hz. The “low Q” tight bass combined very well with the XA3200 MK2 bass characteristic.

 

I suspect that folks with dry sounding systems would benefit from this preamp. I wished I had the Benchmark USB DAC1 on hand to check out the synergy as I suspect it's lean and less than robust character might mate well with the Xindak preamp.

 

There was one major downside to the stock tubes. In Eva Cassidey's song “Dancing Cheek to Cheek” from Live at Blues Alley, the soundstage depth would just collapse with the stock tubes in comparison with the preamp from the Bryston B100 SST. For reference, the B100 preamp is essentially the Bryston BP16. Additionally, the midrange definition was lackluster. In “The Man is Too Strong” by Dire Straights, the detail of the different guitars wailing sort of melded into one creating sort of a “who cares” opinion of some great music. The affect was so great that the benefits of the amazing Gracioso speakers were held back by the stock tube sound. Give up? Never! After some further listening, it was time for some tube rolling.

 

 

Got Tubes?

 

I got my hands on two sets of NOS (New Old Stock) 12AX7 tubes labeled Fisher. One set was from Mullard and the other from Telefunken. I also tried some RCA 12AT7 tubes at the same time. The addition of the RCA 12AT7 and the Telefunken 12AX7 tubes got me where I wanted to be. Happy with the sound, I jokingly called them “Telefunky” to my wife who just raised an eyebrow and walked away. Note that I didn't care for the Mullard tubes nearly as much as the Telefunkens. For those who are new to tubes, switching out the tubes (tube rolling) can create major changes in the sound. The sound of each tube can be up to personal taste so your mileage may vary considerably.

 

I was at a social event recently where fine wine was flowing as were discussions regarding the wine. With little knowledge of wine, I shut up and listened. Two guests were discussing two red wines. One was simple and tasted fine while the other had some bite and lots of character. The distinguished taste as apparently an affect of something other than grapes added to the wine. Blueberries? I forget. I just know I found it a refreshing and enjoyable change. One person was extolling the virtues of the first wine suggesting that the additional tastes of the other were unnatural and less pure. Another person clearly enjoyed the second wine with the additional bite as did I. I forget what he said because my mind sailed off into an audio analogy. Either way, these two were never going to agree and each happy with their choice.

 

Audio can be like fine wine. As every nuance was examined causing my eyes to roll, I realized that many of us sound like that when talking audio. In this case, the Bryston BP16 is the pure wine while the Xindak XA3200 MK2 is the wine with character.

 

The NOS “Telefunky” tubes reached a great compromise between the sound of the stock tubes and the sound of the Bryston. It may surprise some to read this but the Bryston preamp sounds quite dark with a very deep soundstage. The Bryston B100 SST is unquestionably highly regarded and seems to garner even more positive reviews than the 2B amplifier inside the B100. It is likely that the darker character of the BP16 mixes nicely with the more neutral 2B amp in the B100. Synergy!

 

The Xindak XA3200 MK2 gets much closer to the Bryston with the NOS tubes but with an added kick of tube magic. The soundstage is still less deep but one might only notice if they perform direct comparisons. On the plus side, the Xindak preamp has an exceedingly wide soundstage that easily expands beyond the width of the speakers. Additionally, some of that very cool bass character still persists with the Xindak. We can't forget the tube magic however.

 

Although we give up a little bit in terms of fine resolution and soundstage depth with the Xindak, there is an added sense of space and air to the sound from the tubes that's  really cool and a welcome addition to my small well damped listening room. The Xindak brings you a few rows closer to the performers and even brings them up alongside you in some cases. Some of our readers may actually prefer this.

 

In the second track from disk 2 of the Frye Street Quartet on SACD, the stringed instruments are a little closer than I am used to. It's as if you're brought right up front to view the performance and, as two performers trade off notes back and forth, the panning of the sound is exceedingly wide and exciting. I am listening to it again while writing and the sound is full and robust with lots of energy and drive. The only downside is that the true character and detail of the stringed instruments is diluted from what they should sound like. The Bryston preamp, costing much more, gets closer to what I remember from their actual performances. The Bryston basically improves on the sound but at the cost of more than twice that of the Xindak.

 

Track 1 from Nirvana's “Nevermind” was hard driving with excellent sounding drums and guitars over the Xindak XA3200 MK2 preamp. My wife just stepped in to find me actually head-banging while I cranked it. As a normally mild mannered person, this is saying something. Her only comment was to remind me of the bright blue LEDs before walking away. The same song revealed a subtle downside of the Xindak when compared to the big boys costing much more.

 

When the music got complex, the guitars and Cobane's voice got lost together in congested and confused way. With simpler passages it's another story. Track 2 of “Nevermind” starts out with a wicket guitar riff  that sounds better through the Xindak than anything else I can remember in my system.

 

Xindak's marketing team suggests that the Xindak XA3200 MK2 is well suited for classical music. I actually found that I mostly enjoyed listening to funky Jazz like Dave Holland's “Triplicate”, or pop influenced by jazz such as Sade, Dire Straits, Steely Dan, or soulful jazz like Eva Cassidey with the Xindak preamp.

 

In need of a little audio “sorbet” I through in a solid state preamp costing half as much as the Xindak; the Jaton RC7000P. The Jaton had a lot less character, faired better with more complex music, but had a lack of refinement that the Xindak possesses.

 

Stepping up the ladder, it's a little unfair to compare the much more expensive Bryston to the Xindak, but that is my reference to beat. The Bryston BP16 is more pure and you hear more of what is going on  while the Xindak XA3200 MK2 is more robust and interesting. Ok, here comes my one alloted audio cliché for the review; I found myself tapping my toes more with the Xindak. I choose the much more expensive Bryston as it gets me closer to what is actually in the recording and allows me to review other components with a more neutral source. In the end I'll take accuracy and purity first.

 

 

$999.95 gets you the magic of tubes providing enjoyable sound, great looks, smooth operation, and a fantastic remote. Switching out the stock tubes will get you even better performance.

 

The warm mellow character of this preamp may mix well with dry or lean sounding systems. Those who listen late at night may also appreciate it's full sound at low listening volumes. If you're not looking to switch out the stock tubes, look elsewhere. Those who are willing to take the tube train are in for an enjoyable ride. Additionally, folks who need a phono input, tone controls, more than four inputs, or hate blue LEDs should look elsewhere.

The US distributer, Lotus Audio Import, can be contacted to find a local dealer to set up an audition.

 

 

Website: www.lotusaudioimport.com

 

Associated Equipment
Preamp – Bryston B100 SST, Jaton RC7000P

Amp: Hephaestus Audio HMA-1000 monoblocks and Bryston B100 SST

 

Sources – Lite Audio DAC AM Modified by Pacific Valve
Pinoneer Elite DV47A SACD as transport and player, Nakamichi MB2s as transport

 

Speakers – Acoustic Preference Gracioso 1.0

Magnepan MMG MC1 with HSU Research VTF3 MK3 Subwoofer

DIY GR Research open baffle three way with B&G Ribbon tweeters

 

 

Cables:
(Speaker)- Kimber 4TC, Cardas Crosslink 1S

(Interconnects)- Audioquest Diamondbacks, Blue Jeans LC1

(Digital)- Belden coax with Canare ends
(Powercords) – Transparent Audio, Volex 17604, Audioquest NRG-2

PS Audio hospital grade outlet on dedicated 20 amp line