After trying to get some use out of the 710 Twin-Finity for some time I decided to sell it. There are a few reasons that made me do so:
- it is a good preamp for a beginner, with no other outboard preamps. I have many preamps, so it wasn't really an interesting addition. The 710 does not have any special character.
- the solid state side of the 710 is very clean (a good thing in my opinion), but the tube side is also very clean, to a point that I could hardly hear the difference on many sources.
- when pushed into distortion it would start to sound harsh and raspy, not nicely adding warm harmonics. From a tube preamp you would expect the opposite.
- the self noise of the 710 was not as low as I would like (for classical and acoustic recordings). There are better options in this field from makes at similar costs per channel.
The guy who bought it from me was very happy with it though, as I asked half the price of a new one and it was in a pristine state, as I had hardly used it. When used as a clean preamp only it is very good, so he got himself a good piece for a pleasant price.