Ladder Bach – The Best Preamp $1000 Can Buy

My first encounter with the brand Ladder was last year through their R2R DAC Schumman. I liked the sound of it very much as already presented in its review. So when Shenzhen Audio contacted me, asking if I would like to review the brand’s latest product which is a preamp, I immediately accepted. So let’s talk about Ladder Bach.

Build and Connectivity

Ladder Bach is a beautifully built and finished piece of gear. The front panel is dominated by a LED display with big dotted digits and two knobs. One is to turn the unit on/off and select inputs, the other is to adjust the volume. Remote control is universal for all Ladder products that can utilize it and it’s an optional purchase. If you decide not to buy it, because you maybe got it with the Schumann DAC for example, the price deduction is 50 dollars. Worth mentioning is that the remote itself features a premium full-metal build too.

The back of the unit reveals three sets of analog inputs. Two of them are balanced XLRs, one is a single-ended RCA. On the output side, we have both XLR and RCA options. Finally, on the right side of the panel, we can see a gilded AC inlet sourced from premium Japanese manufacturer Furutech.

Features

Given that we have a good old line preamplifier here, there’s not much to talk about when it comes to features. There are no digital inputs, only analog ones. We also don’t have different modes of operation, EQ, or anything along that line. You bring the line-level signal from your CD player or a DAC to this preamp, and it will buffer it and do the volume attenuation before sending it to the power amplifier. That’s it.

Talking bout the internal design – we know that the unit uses a linear power supply with an O-ring transformer. The manufacturer claims the transformer is made of single-crystal copper (highly pure and conductive material). For volume attenuation, instead of a potentiometer, an R-2R ladder structure is used that provides constant impedance on the output.

All of this design talk aside, let’s find out how this preamp truly performs.

Testing

I tried Ladder Bach in various situations. It was fed by affordable Delta Sigma DACs, high-quality R2R DACs, and even some tube DACs with unusually hot signals of more than 7V. In all cases, Bach accepted the signal without any clipping or complaint. On the output side, it was once again paired with class AB amps, class D amps, and even tube amps. This made it easier to access Bach’s own sound signature. Before entering your critical listening mode and deciding if Bach is going to stay in your system permanently – give it a week or so of burn-in time. Dismiss this advice at your own risk of not hearing the best of this device.

Sound

Ladder Bach provides plenty of resolution and informs you about many things happening inside the recording. It doesn’t do that by artificially boosting highs or some part of the midrange. Overall, the tonality of this preamp is as neutral as it gets. The bassline is tidy and perfectly controlled. Bass notes sound simply like low tones that can make corners, change pitch, and just be a part of the music. This is important, as many of us are used to bass rumble that warms our music but is so loosely defined that it can barely be called music itself. But Bach strikes a great balance and its lowest notes are managing to be precise and tuneful, while physical and meaty enough at the same time. Move up the frequency spectrum; the whole sound is revealing but not sharp or edgy. There’s natural smoothness and liquidity to all tones. Even highs have a great natural flow. Cymbals will crush with precision but never with any sort of harshness or edginess they don’t truly possess when listened to live.

But if not sharp, how does it manage to sound so clean – you may ask. For once, the soundstage is spacious and all tones are very well separated. Depth perception is particularly impressive. The background is truly dark and tones emerge in their spots in a decluttered and well-layered manner. That is true, high-quality, clarity without resorting to sharpness or brightness.

The dynamics are fine, especially microdynamics. This is a lively and tuneful-sounding preamp. In absolute terms, it will not match the best preamps on the market when it comes to big dynamic swings, punchiness, and kick. That said, no preamp under one thousand will do that.

Lastly, Ladder Bach doesn’t require you to worry about pairing too much given its very neutral tonality and lack of harshness. It is very transparent, and won’t hide and make up for deficiencies of lesser quality sources. If you feed it with a source that sounds harsh or muddy, Bach will happily pass on that sound signature.

Comparisons

Schiit Freya+ is a tube preamp with similar pricing and three distinct modes of operation. Its passive mode is flat and lifeless. Its buffered mode is better, but not a match for Bach’s transparency and naturally liquid tones. This leaves us with tube mode. Depending on the tube selection, Freya+ can sound bigger, bolder, warmer… or maybe even sharper and more sparkly in highs. You can tune it to your liking and that is a treat on its own. That said, no matter what tubes I tried – Bach would still have an advantage in how dark its background is, how well it pin-points instruments, and how clean and tuneful its bassline is. To cut this story short – if you want to tune and color the sound to your liking – Schiit Freya+ is a great choice. If you’re after clean, tonally neutral, and very precise sound – both in the time domain and with spatial placing – Bach might be the preamp for you.

Acoustic Invader preamp is a pricier J-fet preamp made here in Serbia. It offers a similar level of detail retrieval and precision as Ladder Bach but with a slightly warmer sound signature. Acoustic Invader’s background is clean but not as dark. In exchange, it offers a wider and airier soundstage. Bach has a cleaner and more precise bassline. Acoustic Invader has a bolder and softer bassline. Both are superbly tuneful and follow the rhythm with ease. Similarly, Bach is cleaner and more precise through the midrange. Acoustic Invader is slightly warmer and richer with tone timbre and inner tone texture.

All said and done, I did prefer the Acoustic Invader preamp with its warmer and richer sound signature. That said, Ladder Bach is not far behind, and depending on the rest of your system you might even prefer it. Bach is also more affordable which makes it a very strong contender.

Conclusion

Ladder Bach offers premium build quality and great, transparent, sound with a very mature tonal signature. I rarely encountered all of these qualities below one thousand dollars. There’s really nothing to dislike and many things to like about this preamp. This grants my highest recommendation.

LADDER BACH – CHARACTERISTICS

Fully balanced preamplifier R-2R volume control Single-crystal copper transformer All-metal build Big LED display Inputs: 1 x RCA 2 x XLR Outputs: 1 x RCA 1 x XLR Size (WxDxH): 350 x 340 x 56 mm