And the midrange, ahhhhh, the midrange. The dynamic contrasts make the music sound like an effortless song from the deep background of the deep blue sea. This is the kind of sound that one can swim in, immerse oneself in, and forget the rest of the world. The word romantic comes to mind. The above description certainly runs at odds to my conceptualization of absolute transparency in some respects, but I think it safe to say that we all have our dream stream of music that is basically euphoric in nature.
Reality is another thing.
The LA-100 can actually do some of the things described above. As a matter of fact, in comparison to the other preamps looked at, the LA-100 is remarkably present and dimensional with a reach out and touch it palpability. It strikes me as letting an amazing amount of phase and spatial information through, information that doesn't come to the fore in most designs. Mid and lower mid timbres are knock you down gorgeous as organs and other instruments rich with harmonic content take on a special quality that seem awesomely real. In the room real.