The 5 Best Stereo Microphone preamps (2023 reviews)

It is important to have the well suited stereo microphone preamp. In the following post, we will help you to select the best stereo microphone preamps.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: ART Great Pre amp READ REVIEW

Best For home Studio: Buy: Saramonic Headphone Jack Adapter READ REVIEW

Best With ADAT: Buy: ART Stereo Microphone Preamp READ REVIEW

Best For practice: Buy: Saramonic Stereo Microphone Preamp READ REVIEW

Best For Mic Preamp: Buy: Rockville Stereo Microphone Preamp READ REVIEW

Best Overall: ART Great Pre amp

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The art great pre amp is long-lasting, rigid and fits well with your regular usage like a dream. The crunch that happens once you drive the tube sounds beautiful with guitar, especially if you're amp modeling instead of going with the real deal. It comes with a couple Chinese tubes. It's clean and quiet, very transparent and the tube effect is very subtle (unlike some of the cheaper starved plate preamps out there) unless you push it very hard. It's a switch on both channels that raise the voltage going through the tubes creating more saturation.

The "Normal" setting produces a smooth transition from very clean low levels up to a "round" saturated. It has enough versatility for just about any mic. It's very easy to hear which is which, as the PRO MPA II is significantly quieter. These require "line level" inputs so they would need to be connected appropriately. It is great for vocals, and the tube effect is very subtle (unlike some of the cheaper starved plate preamps out there) unless you push it very hard.

• Great preamp for beginners or pros
• Distortion and runs extremely clean until it reaches a point of saturated clipping
• Great for the small studio on a budget
• Buzzing or noise in general, sounds great with replacement tubes

Best For home Studio: Saramonic Headphone Jack Adapter

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The saramonic headphone jack adapter is capable of outshining several other preamp featured in this list in overall features for the price point. It works great for high quality video recording with condenser mics and your smartphone. It is good for a run & gun rig where you want to use an xlr mic with a dslr. It can be used for adding 1 or 2 mic’s with or without phantom power to a phone or DSLR.

This device allows up to 4 inputs into a quality 2-channel pre-amp WITH 48 volt phantom power. You can plug line-level sources (mixers, cd players, audio interfaces) into these ports thus enabling you to connect those devices to your phone or DSLR. There's separate gain control knobs for L & R channels, so you can mix and match mic and sources. It is compatible with usb-c android devices, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and pcs.

• You can feed your stereo mixer directly into your camera or other destination
• Does a great job boosting the audio signal to avoid in-camera preamps
• Very flexible and versatile for many applications and devices
• A non-powered 3.5mm mic (small headphone jack sized)

Best With ADAT: ART Stereo Microphone Preamp

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Art has been making great preamp for years, thanks to a combination of clever design and appropriate materials. Even the stock tubes sound decent enough on vocals, but where this excels is as a bass preamp. It features a high quality a to d converter which offers digital connectivity on s/pdif, adat, or aes/ebu outputs. The preamp is also flexible enough to handle more difficult sources like ribbon mics, thanks to the adjustable input impedance.

The ADAT/SPDIF digital output feature is great for exapansion. It comes in a standard 2 unit space rack-mountable steel chassis, with cnc routed black anodized aluminum face panel. The variable impedance feature and continuously variable low-pass are great for dialing in the exact tone from your mic and removing unwanted low-end junk. It is a definite upgrade, and adds nice warmth and tube color.

• You can really dial in and get alot out of your mics
• Variable input impedance for flexible microphone voicing
• Good investment for long term

Best For practice: Saramonic Stereo Microphone Preamp

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Not everyone likes to purchase preamp for their regular usage, but the saramonic stereo microphone preamp would be an anomoly. The Saramonic Smartrig+ di is a portable microphone/guitar interface for recording professional quality audio. It provides 48v phantom power for microphones, and includes a 3.5mm headphone output for real-time sound monitoring. It works with 3.5mm mic jack devices. It features a mfi certified lightning output connector allowing you to attach an xlr microphone or 6.3mm guitar directly to your lighting connected ios device. The interface also features 3 types of input to accommodate any set up.

The Smartrig+ di makes your recording work easier by connecting professional microphones and guitars (or other instruments) to your smartphone, tablet, dslr camera or video camera. It works for recording interviews at festivals.

• Great product works for recording interviews at festivals
• Connects directly to iphone through lightning adapter
• Provides 48v phantom power for microphones
• 3.5 mm headphone output jack for monitoring

Best For Mic Preamp: Rockville Stereo Microphone Preamp

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The rockville stereo microphone preamp is capable of outshining several other preamp featured in this list in overall features for the price point. Top quality low noise preamp The main job of a pre-amp is to control the signal going to your amp or powered speakers. These have a built in USB mp3 player. It is perfect for home audio use as well as for some pro audio applications in between sets etc.

These are the first part of your signal and a good pre-amp is essential to having great sound quality. The interface is 2-way and you can use it as an input playback device or as an output recording device. There is also USB playback so you can play back audio saved on a thumb drive. There are amazing controls and there is a high quality 3 band eq so you can adjust and fine tune your sound. This will work with any of your favorite daw’s such as pro tools or ableton live.

• Built in reliable bluetooth audio playback with long range
• Headphone output for listening or monitoring
• Top of the line professional preamp with low noise and high sound quality