STATUS - SOLD
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Description :
The Rogue Audio Metis offers audiophiles a hand-built vacuum tube preamplifier that promises true high-end sound. The preamplifier is a deceptively complex piece. It is a solidly constructed, no frills unit that looks like it is built to last. For its size the Rogue Audio Metis packs a lot of functionality into a fairly small and exceptionally neat component. A thick aluminum faceplate is mated to a robust chassis with equally inspiring gold-plated RCA jacks around the back. It incorporates a high-quality solid-state phono stage with 35dBs of gain making it suitable for moving magnet phono catridges and is designed to function as a headphone amplifier, without cutting any serious sonic corners. It includes three line-level inputs and one phono input, one headphone jack, and two sets of single-ended outputs (one fixed, the other variable). Controls are minimalist—an on/off pushbutton, an input selector switch, a volume knob and a balance control. Rather than the big gold-plated chassis-mounted RCAs found on Rogue's more expensive gear, the Rogue Audio Metis uses less expensive circuit board-mounted ones. Inside there is a slow-start feature that eases current to the tubes in order to extend their lives. Together these factors yield a costeffective, elegantly constructed preamplifier with a very sophisticated sound.

The Rogue Audio Metis preamplifier offers surprisingly high levels of resolution, and its sound is remarkably consistent across the entire audio spectrum. The Metis may offer a touch less midrange sweetness than the best tube preamplifiers, but it also delivers superior top-to-bottom continuity, meaning it always sounds whole and complete, never disjointed. Some preamplifiers would turn complex passages into a congested mess, but the Metis sails through the piece cleanly, keeping its composure and effortlessly delineating densely layered instrumental and voices. The Metis’ tonal balance is generally neutral, with articulate though perhaps slightly forward-sounding midrange, extended and beautifully defined highs, and pleasingly taut and potent bass. Though the Rogue Audio Metis never sounds aggressive, neither is it subdued or “polite”; instead, it has a refreshingly direct and forthright sound that shatters a lot of oldschool tube-preamp myths. In fact, listeners accustomed to preamps that fit the lucid-midrange/soft-treble/wooly-bass paradigm will find the preamplifier's handling of the frequency extremes a revelation.

The Rogue Audio Metis is dynamic, robust, charged and driven. Compared to many tube preamplifiers which give ripe mids but a slowing of the overall pace of music, the Metis is distinctive. But one downside is that the Metis is a noisy unit, including its headphone jack which produces a nasty crackle through the speakers when it is plugged in or out. Finally, the Metis can, when matched with equipment and recordings that are up to the task, produce deep, wide soundstages with highly three-dimensional renderings of individual instruments. The Metis gives affordable systems plenty of growth potential, but the bad news is that it needs to use very revealing amplifiers to hear the preamp at its best. Pair the Rogue Audio Metis with today’s best affordable power amplifiers, and the system electronics would offer mind-blowing sonic refinement per dollar.

Specifications :
Frequency Response........................10Hz to 50 kHz, +/- 1dB
Total Harmonic Distortion..................<0.1% typ, <1% at rated power
Gain Stage......................................12dB
Phono Gain......................................35dB
Phono Loading.................................47k ohms, 150pF capacitance
Rated Output...................................1V RMS
Max Output.....................................10V
Power Requirements.........................115/230 V, 50/60 Hz
Dimensions(w x d x h)......................46 x 31.5 x 9 cm
Weight............................................6kg

Miscellaneous :
Matching.........................................Rogue Audio Atlas Power Amplifier
Remote Control................................No
Made In...........................................USA
Condition.........................................9/10

Product Information :
http://rogueaudio.com/Products_Titan.htm
http://www.rogueaudio.com/manuals/Metis_manual.pdf (Manual)
http://www.rogueaudio.com/Reviews.htm

Reviews :
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/rogueaudio_metis.htm
http://www.avguide.com/review/rogue-audio-metis-preamplifier
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue39/rogue_audio.htm
http://www.10audio.com/rogue_metis.htm
http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Preamplifier-Tube/Rogue-Audio/Metis/amp/16/160933.html