Over the years, I’ve encountered Ypsilon electronics in various setups, yet only recently have I been able to spend meaningful time with one of these iconic high-end products in the familiarity of my own system.
The Ypsilon PST100 preamplifier brings a very distinctive set of attributes, as you’ll read throughout the review, offering a unique kind of aural adventure—always emphasizing the musical content rather than the sound itself. This remark, noted in my listening journal, prompted even me to pause and re-contemplate.
PST100
The PST-100 marks a defining statement within Ypsilon’s 100 Series, advancing the very notion of preamplification with unique originality. At the epicenter of its design philosophy lie the in-house–crafted transformer attenuators, a solution that sets it apart from conventional approaches.
Paired with a valve-based gain stage and committed with stringent attention to materials and construction, the PST-100 furnishes a sonic adventure that is at once effortless, refined, and profoundly immersive.
While tradition insists that the active circuitry dictates the ultimate performance of a preamplifier, Ypsilon’s vision pivots elsewhere: toward the way the signal is attenuated.
The volume control, often overlooked, is utterly vital to preserving transparency and subtleties. While majority of manufacturers employ resistor ladders—even with stand-out components such as Vishay—Ypsilon found the results unsatisfactory, imparting an undeniable imprint to the music.
The answer was the development of a bespoke transformer attenuator, built with painstaking winding techniques, ultra-pure conductors, and superior core materials, resulting in a magnetic circuit of outstanding linearity that preserves microdynamics and tonal integrity, transcending the resistor-based solutions.
In the PST-100 Mk2, this attenuator offers 31 discrete steps and a total attenuation of 54 dB. The active stage employs a single-ended C3m triode, free of feedback and transformer-coupled for maximum transparency.
Power is supplied by a dedicated valve rectifier (6CA4) and choke-filter arrangement, ensuring a noise floor as quiet as it is stable. All wiring is point-to-point, executed with Ypsilon’s own custom-made pure-silver conductors.
Placing the attenuator after the valve stage safeguards the signal’s intricacy, while providing 16 dB of gain and a maximum output impedance of just 150 Ω.
The PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary represents a substantial refinement of the already highly regarded SE version of the preamplifier. Every detail was revisited to achieve the utmost purity in signal transmission. At its heart are proprietary core materials in all signal transformers, wound with ultra–high-purity silver wire, ensuring absolute fidelity and tonal integrity. The design eliminates capacitors from the signal path, preserving transparency and immediacy.
Further advances include a specially developed input transformer for the active tube stage, a power supply built around a tube rectifier with the highest-grade high-voltage film capacitors, and internal point-to-point wiring using newly developed high-purity silver conductors.
Together, these enhancements elevate the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary into a realm where technical refinement and musical articulation connect seamlessly.
The Music
As is the norm, here are a few reference albums that highlight the virtues of the Ypsilon Audio PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary preamplifier.
After just a few tracks, it became clear that the Greek flagship preamplifier’s chameleon-like core offers far greater variety than expected, even at its given price tag.
Jeff Beck – Flash
Jeff Beck’s Flash stands as a very different record from one of the guitar world’s most inventive artists, exploring the fusion of rock virtuosity with the modern production of its era. From the very first notes, the album delivers a distinct aural impact, merging Beck’s unmistakable guitar phrasing with layered arrangements that reflect both his boldness and his curiosity for new directions. Even after all these years, the record retains a particular freshness, driven by its unapologetically exploratory nature.
The production bears the unmistakable fingerprint of the mid-1980s, with polished tonal textures, synthesizer accents, and rhythm tracks that anchor Beck’s spontaneous playing. Heard through the Ypsilon PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary, the music operates not only within Beck’s instantly recognizable framework but also reveals far deeper realms, never allowing the guitar to lose its immediacy.
The accompanying instruments cut through with precision, emotive tone, and phrasing that continually shifts between recurring motifs, syncopated interplay, and lightning-fast, thunderous attacks. This constant tension between sharp accents and fleeting releases gives the tracks their distinctive edge. The Ypsilon preamplifier bridges Beck’s compositions with flashes of unrestrained virtuosity, presenting the album in a surprisingly refreshing light.
The PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary let Flash to unfold with an intriguingly captivating presence, challenging expectations and expanding the vocabulary of what a preamplifier can reveal, broadening the musical landscape while maintaining Beck’s unmistakable imprint. When such expanded impact occurs, it can feel polarizing—demanding a higher level of listening engagement.
Flash is less about easy listening and more about living in the moment. Masterfully, the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary captured the flow and locked into the rhythm, reaffirming both Beck’s audacious vision via Ypsilon’s unique capability to furnish music with immediacy and power.
Mort Garson – Plantasia
Mort Garson’s Plantasia thrives on its delicate balance of friskiness and sonic abysm, and it quickly discloses whether the playback chain is up to the task.
Ypsilon Audio PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary preamplifier is not taming harmonic content like many preamps do. Quite oppositely, act in full preservation—tones unfolding with genuine resonating timbre, never compressed nor overly enhanced. The music feels unforced, never merely compiled or stacked, but alive, carrying forward the impulsive yet profound essence of Garson’s electronic garden.
The Ypsilon PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary preamplifier steps into this role with remarkable confidence, avoiding boosting or spotlighting any portion of the frequency spectrum; instead, it renders the music with an upper-plane quality that feels rare, but even more importantly, by not hindering harmonic density or the three-dimensional projection, which is fundamental in the depiction of objective illusion.
Even when the volume rises, louderly played, the lower registers remain intact and unthinned, allowing Plantasia’s foundational throbbing to subsist innately, reassuring again how this top-tier preamplifier’s core strength lies in conveying the message of the music profoundly well—clarity without exaggeration, expression without loss.
As with the rest of the music, Plantasia once again verified that the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary neither emulates nor approximates. It effortlessly, instantly, and seamlessly conveys the album’s unusual narrative, interacting with and exploring Garson’s playful aural microcosm in a way that feels immediate, tangible, and unmistakably authentic.
The Ypsilon Audio chef-d’oeuvre has proven again and again that the right hardware (when dosed properly) can decode and facilitate complex, emotionally dense momentum through an almost alchemical use of circuitry.
Keith Urban – Ripcord
From the opening of “Gone Tomorrow (Here Today),” the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary establishes its command over space and dynamics, effortlessly pulling the space between notes forward. Dense passages are handled with remarkable ease, revealing micro-details without ever sounding forced or congested.
Many preamplifiers falter early on tracks like “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” yet Ypsilon’s flagship proves itself a rare exception—an antidote to the predictable and the mediocre.
On tracks such as “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” it preserves the music’s natural flow, never imposing character or artificial color, and clearly differentiates itself from lesser designs where sonic fiction too often intrudes.
Much like a well-engineered master studio setup, where gear and ears must align, the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary achieves musical magic through balance and control.
From careful component selection to precise gain optimization, it delivers system unity—acting invisibly yet providing solidity, presence, and the essential structure the music demands.
PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary elevates the source material without altering its essence, demonstrating exactly why it belongs in the upper echelon of high-end audio. For convoluted juxtaposition, an active role playing of being-not being there.
The Conclusion
For quite some time, it has been clear that a high-end preamplifier is a crucial part of any system, as most onboard preamps in all-in-one components cannot compare to what a dedicated, high-quality preamplifier can deliver.
The primary task of any preamplifier is ensuring faithful signal integrity, a distortion-free reproduction of the music with as little circuitry involved as possible.
The Ypsilon PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary belongs to that rare category of preamplifiers capable of conveying both feather-light intricacies and thunderous impact with equal authority.
Perhaps even more remarkable, once set within a proper habitat, is the sheer anticipation—much like the stillness before a storm—the expectation of experiencing fully unwined and heightened musical drama. This alone elevates the Greek preamplifier to its deserving place among true highlights.
The PST100 MK2 SE circuitry stems from a concept beyond conventional design, breaking free from closed-loop thinking and offering a distinctive proposition: an endgame scenario where emotional impact and dynamic flow are delivered without coloration or compromise— the listening perception itself shifts; regardless of volume, the signal follows in the natural way in sync with how our ears and brain decode sound/music.
Where redundancy plagues many preamplifiers regardless of price, the PST100 MK2 SE stands apart with natural transparency and an extraordinary balancing act. It presents a spatial expansion that respects the recording, maintaining horizontal and vertical equilibrium while providing a harmonious richness, upper-level density, and out-of-ordinary depth. This unearths subtle layers without ever retouching or embellishing the music, depicting it exactly as it is.
Rather than dissecting or artificially highlighting details, the Ypsilon Anniversary preamp prepares a potent ground for a seamless journey through the full span of dynamic expression, keeping the narrative easily decipherable and free of anomalies. This is something that even far more expensive preamplifiers often fail to achieve. The PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary transmits the signal from source to amplifier with poise, maintaining tonal balance and consonance across the complete frequency spectrum.
A true preamplifier must safeguard the semantics of music—preserving harmonic content, flow, and balance. This is precisely where the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary excels: free from confined approaches, it embodies its own set of values, moving beyond mere theory.
At every moment, the Ypsilon avoids unwanted tension and distortion—something even more expensive units often struggle with. The PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary consistently embraces music for what it is, delivering clarity, emotional depth, and unbroken authenticity. It connects the dots exactly where and how they should merge—seamlessly and without phase or timing deviations.
Too often, preamplifiers obscure the message; not here. With Ypsilon, the physical and emotional aspects of sound are immediately recognizable, offering a rare and genuine sense of excitement.
PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary embodies Ypsilon’s ethos, where every design decision and manufacturing step plays a crucial part in achieving music reproduction that is vibrant, complete, and free from imposed character. From the very first note, its core differentiates itself from the norm—the unaltered essence. Full stop.
The SE Anniversary is all about fidelity, restraint, and focus. By removing what is unnecessary, it maintains music energy and delivers a sonic result of remarkable acuity—more tangible, more real, more alive.
At a time when high-end audio often leans heavily on flashy aesthetics and esoteric yet unproven approaches, the Greek masterpiece allows music to flow with purity and a zen-like ease. For all these reasons, I am pleased to grant the Ypsilon PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary the 2025 Mono & Stereo Upper Echelon Product Award.
For those who embrace its gestalt, the PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary is nothing less than a clear reference. It embodies sonic purity distilled to the essence of music, with nothing added and nothing taken away.
Its design radiates precision and artistry, while its sound combines refinement, naturalness, and vitality—the hallmarks of true high-end.
The PST100 MK2 SE Anniversary is not just another preamplifier; it is the culmination of Ypsilon’s pursuit of authenticity in music reproduction.
Crafted with care and inspired by music, Ypsilon’s top-tier preamplifier sets itself apart with a stand-out “voice” unlike any other, a preamplifier for those who value craftsmanship, artistry, and sonic verity—a benchmark, and arguably a necessity in reaching the endgame. ❖
Price
- 55,000 € including 20% VAT
Technical Specifications
- Output impedance: less than 120 ohms at high volume steps and less than 60 ohms at commonly used volume steps.
- Input impedance: 47 kΩ, with input transformer inductance higher than 100 H.
- Frequency response: 6 Hz – 170 kHz @ -3 dB.
- Maximum output voltage at maximum volume step: 35 Vrms.
- Gain: x7 or +17 dB.
- Front display: high-resolution TFT with user-selectable character color.
- Dimensions: 400 × 410 × 180 mm.
Contact
Review sample provided by
DreamAudio Spol. S R.O.
Jaskovy Rad 213A
Bratislava – 83101
Slovakia