Let’s say this, just overall fit and finish without hearing makes me glad I sold my Rogue Rp-5. Don’t get me wrong, the Rogue RP-5 is an excellent preamp and Rogue has fantastic customer service. Just moving the BHK out of the box makes you realize it is a major class above. Just a few initial observations without any break in whatsoever:
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The rear panel is arranged intuitively where one CAN actually see what goes where without having to shine a phone/flashlight. Lettering is large and easy to read at any angle (big deal if you are over 50 like myself). I’m using one of my ZU Event power cables. Down the road I’ll compare to the stock cable. Before I upgrade power cables any further (The ZU’s were a big improvement over stock cables with my other components), I’m concentrating updating amps, dac, power, etc.
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All connectors are high quality and have a tight fit with all the cables I use. My amp (currently) only has RCAs. I’m using cheap Balanced to RCA adaptors for my subwoofer for now. I plan on purchasing Stellar monos or BHK 250 in the near future and will utilize balanced connection on the main amp. No need to reverse polarity at speakers like I had to do with the RP-5. (No mention of reversing polarity in Rogue manual, I had to contact Rogue to find out…I’m willing to bet 90% of users are not reversing their speaker connections. Probably not a big deal anyway since 50% of recordings are reversed anyway).
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The Front display is easy to read from a good distance.
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The removable top tube access lid is fantastic. One had to remove “seems like 50” screws to get to the Rogue tubes.
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High quality remote.
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The sound out of the box is outstanding. Very smooth with great soundstage. Very transparent. Not overly warm sounding…just enough to smooth out the highs. I’m extremely happy how it sounds out of the box. I’m sure the pre will get more pleasing as time goes on.
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Now the biggie for me: LOW VOLUME LISTENING IS FANTASTIC! With the Rogue, I installed a Schiit EQ in the tape loop to basically use as a traditional loudness (boosted low end a bit) switch for late night listening. No need here. Must be the special volume mechanism…the sound, staging is full at low volumes. Even at the tiny-est of volume setting, no channel unbalance or noise. I felt the RP-5 “petered out” a bit on low volume listening, sounding quite thin.
I’ll update my experience as time goes on. I cannot ever see wanting a new pre amp down the road. The BHK PRE is, both visually and sonically, a work of art.
