If people bought pre-amps on technical spec they would all be using stepped attenuator passives...
Not many come with remote control option though.
Printable View
If people bought pre-amps on technical spec they would all be using stepped attenuator passives...
Not many come with remote control option though.
If it was my money I wouldn't be looking at all these expensive so called Hi End designs which others have owned but are now for sale:) I would have a little look at the new Schiit Saga https://schiit.eu.com/preamps/Saga This Pre offers passive and active in one box and is yours brand new for £360.
HiFi World have reviewed it recently. You can try and if it's not for you return it. I myself have The Freya which includes XLR which with your valve amp you won't need but I prefer the balanced approach in my digital system.
"Passive preamps lack dynamics" is the criticism I've heard on many occasions. I've never really understood this - it doesn't tally with my technical understanding or my listening experience. I can only assume that for a given position of the volume control most actives will be louder, and that is perceived as more dynamic.
People use the word 'dynamics' to mean all sorts of things that it doesn't so it is not easy to figure out what they are on about a lot of the time. That's before you get into 'micro dynamics' and 'dynamic contrasts'. My best guess is that it just doesn't sound 'right' to them without a bit of distortion.
edit forgot 'dynamic shading' as well
Very wrong, ignorant of many other forms of attenuation, and thus misleading !
You need to use a compander capable of real time processing or
mono blocks or balanced audio or preferably all three, to hear the dynamics
contained in recordings.
Its a bit like holding a squashed tomato claiming
its a tomato, vs a normal one otherwise.
If you hear audio with all three, or even one, you can then start making much better
judgment calls, on one form of attenuation vs the other.
Can we cut out any niggling please. Ta