Aura Preamplifier

Aura Preamplifier

You can't hear what you're missing until you hear what's not there!

The original STP was created in 2009 and has gone through many upgrades and transitions over the years. Through every generation, our goal has always been to get just a little more out of the design without losing what made it special.

If you've ever had the chance to listen to or own one, you probably understand exactly what we mean. From the beginning, our design philosophy has been to overbuild and focus heavily on the volume control itself. 

It may seem like a simple function, but the volume control is one of the most important--and often overlooked--parts of the preamplifier. After all, no matter how good the rest of your system is, we ultimately hear it through the volume control and this is where things get complicated. 

A volume control needs to do much more than simply control the music level. It needs to maintain precise channel balance, preserve dynamics and detail, provide consistent loading and allow the rest of the system to perform without getting in the way.

Over the years, we've encountered countless designs where performance changes depending on where the volume level is set. Channel balance can shift to one side at lower levels then to the other at higher levels. Some don't provide enough drive until higher levels and sometimes at levels higher than ever used. Others can change their character through the volume adjustments. 

For us, none of that is acceptable. We've always believed that the volume control should be essentially invisible. Our approach has always been rock-solid channel matching at any level with complete control through a carefully designed passive volume control. 

The result is something you may not immediately notice--and that is exactly the point.

• Precise imaging remains intact even when listening at background levels
• Tight and controlled bottom end without needing the influence of an increased level
• Fine nuances remain present
• Transients are clean and effortless
• Openness and articulation that allows the music to breathe

Introducing Aura

The Aura Preamplifier takes everything we've learned from the STP platform and pushes even further.

Our starting point was the highly regarded STP-SE Stage 2 and we originally intended to call this new design the STP-2. As development progressed, it became clear that this wasn't simply another evolution of the STP... it was something else and needed it's own name. 

We took the discrete Class A stages developed for our 10th Anniversary DAC and refined them further by using JFETs on both sides of the design to create a presentation that's exceptionally fluid, lively and engaging. It is something difficult to describe precisely and one of those things that can be hard to explain in words... but when you hear it, you know.

We've also redesigned to provide greater drive capability while the cross-coupled stages improve common-mode rejection that leads to further removing itself from the music. The result is a preamplifier that provides rich, controlled performance through both single-ended and balanced connections. 

A Volume Control Designed to Disappear

We didn't stop at the amplification stages

The volume control itself received a complete redesign using the same relay-and-resistor architecture that applies a combination of precision attenuation pads according to the selected volume level. 

The new volume control is more responsive and quieter as you move through the volume range, maintaining the musical composure instead of imposing its own. Ultimately, that is exactly what we're after.

At the End of the Day...

A great preamplifier shouldn't call attention to itself and it shouldn't have a sound of its own. It should simply let you hear more of what's already in the recording. That is what we set out to accomplish with the Aura Pre.

Not a preamp that sounds impressive

A preamplifier that gets out of the way and lets your system become more of itself. 

Aura Preamplifier

Hear what's really there.