This is the preamp video that needs the real attention.

Paul Wolff has forgotten more about preamps than Jim Lill will ever know.

 

Where are the tests?

 

Nobody's going to comment on Dan Worrall's official opinion? Maybe yet another thread... ok, I'll just shutup

 

Yes, a repetitive workflow is the most important factor in audio processing - shitty and expensive preamp or not.

However Jim Lill already made this statement in his own video by saying that if it's subtle, it doesn't matter.
And if you want things to add up, just add the right amount immediately.
Why would you write 2+3 if you can just write 5?

 

Last edited: Jun 26, 2026 at 8:59 PM

I'd rather listen Paul Wolff talk about circuitry design on any situation, not some YT throwing shade on analog gear.

If is this one, i tend to agree on some degree. Especially because he says that preamps may make a difference, but it's not something that will stop you from making music. And yes, the differences are subtle and this can be proven on the lots of comments of this thread. Most of the guys cannot hear a preamp sound if it's not overdriven, which means, broken. If you got curated ears, they start being more obvious. But don't expect your musician friend know how to describe the nuances between pres. That's why recording engineers exists. Because they know how to use those subtle differences to make it huge in the end.

 

As the video still suggests about Dan Worrall "settling things once and for all", he didn't. It's pretty obvious he has enough class not to take this guy's theory out to the woodshed, so to speak. He's not going attack the "information" in the video, or dignify it by actually setting up his own tests. Nor is he going to punch downward at some Lil' guy, or create a video that would obviously make the Focusrite group marketing people unhappy. He probably has some level of experience with their Red line of products; so he's not going to be submitting his name for the Anti-Focusrite Group chairman of the board position. Harrison got the video treatment they did because they were outright lying about one of their own products, and then created a video doubling down on their BS and trying to discredit his video.

A voiceover recorded with a 1st gen 2i2 is not going to "convince" anyone, except the Focusrite "prosumer" line users. He even states he had to repatch it in to even use it. Maybe he got a unit to demo and review for feedback on the product, and then they didn't want it returned because the shipping would cost more than the value of the unit. (yes, I'm joking, not actually suggesting this).