DIY Mic Pre Kits, Lunchbox Mic Preamp Kits, Power Supply Kits

Hello everyone,

I'm looking with real interest at building a couple of these preamps and was wondering about the input transformer option. I was curious as to whether anyone had done any recordings with their preamps, both with and without the input transformer. I see that the transformer adds just over 18dB of gain (which is nice!), but I was wondering about how it coloured the sound.

Does anyone have any audio samples available or observations from your own experience?

Thanks so much!

Darryl

Here is a partial answer to my own question.

After googling around for a while I found a comparison between several
different transformers and discrete op-amps. It's a different preamp
circuit obviously but I found the test interesting.

http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/session9.htm

Of the five transformers listed (with the ADK op-amp), my preference was
between the Cinemag and Jensen. The Jensen was smooth sounding, with a nice, full low end. The Cinemag seemed to bring up the high end a little more but was overall nice and full-sounding. The bass response on both sounded nice to my ears, too.