Yes and Yes. The lack of concentric switches, LED VU meter and most of the hand wiring on the X73i still allows it to keep the same sound and tone but at a lower cost to produce.

It would be interesting to hear them side by side in a comparison. I have heard some people say that they can hear a difference when an identical circuit is executed as a point to point vs. a PCB.

Here are a couple of links ...

[="http://www.vintech-audio.com/x73_info.html"]Vintech X73[/]="http://www.vintech-…"]Vintech X73[/]

[[url=http://="http://www.vintech-…"]Vintech X73i[/]="http://www.vintech-…"]Vintech X73i[/]

Kurt Foster

As far as I've heard the pre sounds the same. On the X73i the hi band is fixed at 12khz whereas on the x73 you can chose between 10,12,14, and 16. I think the x73i has a few more bands on the mid band though. I have two X73i and they are simply awesome on electric guitars.

We have the x73, if anyone with the x73i lives near sacramento and would like to compare - Sean

If it sounds good then all OK, but based on what I read it looks like the X73i doesn't use an output-transformer, right ? (the BA283-circuit with DC-thru a gapped output-TX).

Peter

I have heard some people say that they can hear a difference when an identical circuit is executed as a point to point vs. a PCB.

I would agree with that. I have found that to be true with guitar amps anyway. Very subtle but different. It would be logical that the same could be said for pres.