I was impressed by the SMP 1400 MKIIs I tried yesterday is the only reason I asked tbh. I have 0 context for amps like that though so they may well underperform for the price.
Will be interested either way. TBH I kinda didn’t expect their stuff to be particularly great for some reason but have loved the company for quite a while due to the podcast they use to do, so super interested in more impressions of their stuff when I can get it.
Please do include some notes on my sphere/sus impressions on your 2ch chains when you do it. Know that’s niche, but figure you’ll try it anyways and would be nice info to have for me personaly
I don’t think they’re bad, they’ve just never really sounded like what some of them cost new, but I should likely give chord stuff more of a chance since I never owned any or got more than a demo at least on their speaker side of things
I personally really like the ayre stuff, at least their analog side. The digital side of things is only alright. They also drop a fair bit used making them very viable, I really love the ax5 twenty as an integrated, really great value used if you’re after the sound it offers. Now that hansen died, I am a bit more worried if the company will more forward, but we’ll see
I’m not gonna miss a chance to talk about the mysphere lol. I will include the susvara as well of course, since those 2 are really what I mainly use these days and what one might be able to justify a speaker amp setup for
Thank you for sharing that, the speaker tap to power amp option should have been pretty obvious to me. I have never had a set up requiring this configuration so it slipped my mind.
Interesting points on the volume pot being less than ideal on higher end headphone amps, I’ve definitely come across this and have been surprised given the quality of build and components used. Would one max out the volume on the headphone amp, thus using the pre-amp to attenuate volume control? I’m thinking of this in both a tube amp and solid state headphone amplifiers. Specifically my A&S volume pot is complete
Really depends on the amp, some volume solutions in higher end headphone amps are pretty great, some aren’t.
Somewhat, or you could bypass it internally with some soldering for best results (although I’d make sure to know what you’re doing or ask someone who knows what they’re doing for advice first lol) and that would likely be better. But maxing it out typically does work well enough
And yes A&S know their volume control is shit so they introduced a preamp themselves to upsell lol
Generally sub 1k my experience has been that a nice passive preamp ends up being better than active, but going higher changes my thoughts on that
You got me thinking of trying to use the Pass HPA-1, or the Bryston BHA-1 in pre-amp mode with the A&S volume pot maxed out. I have some diy skills, would rather try this before doing a full blown bypass.
I know you sort of dismissed it earlier but the Benchmark LA4 is under 3k.
There’s the Bel Canto pre5, which is 2.3k. I not very familiar with their product line so maybe there is a better choice from them.
Hattor makes mostly passive preamps but you can option them with opamps for an active option. Those go from 1.5 to 2.5k I think.
Could always get a Freya S for 600 as a base line or just a cheap thing to try.
The Freya would be a reliable pick, I’ll consider that, although I’d be more inclined to go for the tube version.
I’m a bit hesitant on bel canto because I’ve tried their older pre and dacs and wasn’t too impressed but I’ll look into them. Will also still think about the benchmark
I am shooting mostly for active preamps, otherwise the hattor would be in here, I’d rather get something built from the ground up to be active though than what seems to be throwing opamps onto a passive preamp. I did really like their passive option though
Primaluna has some preamps under 4k, the evo 200 and 100. I don’t know how they compare to the mz3 but I’ve heard good things from some people I trust.
@Camus , use the volume knob on the amplifier as a gain, don’t stress over maxing it, especially w/ the A&S. Obviously once you try you will get a feel for your own preferences but here is my suggestion.
Start with the pre-amp at 50% and the amp at 0%. Then turn up the gain on the amp till you have the maximum volume you want. Now you have 50% of the volume knob on the pre-amp to play w/ and you should not be pushing your amp hard, nor clipping, nor hitting the noise floor (hopefully).
It’s simply one way of doing things, and i happen to use this method for my Pendant due to multiple reasons.
I posted this earlier today elsewhere, all the volume pot does on MOST headphone and pre amps is attenuate the input signal, it doesn’t change gain.
Just pick something that works, the only real advantage to having one amp at 100% is it sort of defeats the pot, which MIGHT have a positive effect.
So I was dicking around with all the passive preamps I have, and I’ll just get to the point the axiom ii walker mod is the best passive I’ve heard under 1k. I’ve got both a balanced and single ended version, and they’re both the consistently least flat sounding pot in a box passive I’ve heard in the price range, and that’s really it’s biggest strength, it’s more direct/immediate and lively sounding than one of the other ones I like the goldpoint sa2x (though that’s still good). Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t really compare to a good active, but it beats a lot of sub 1k new active preamps in a lot of aspects as long as you don’t feed it a really low level input and are willing to sacrifice a bit of body/heft and engagement potentially. Only other passive at that price point that I remember being as like this was the lightspeed attenuator, but it’s been too long to comment on that one, but I’d still highly recommend it based on past experience.
If you really want something different in the sub 1k passive space, while I’ve not heard too many tvc, the promitheus reference tvc is still something I pull out when I want to just have a really unique sounding preamp for the price. It’s seriously colored, but it can work well in systems still imo. It really gives you the character, richness, dynamics, and organicness and sort of avoids the flatness and dryness that a lot of passives have. That being said, it really does limit what happens on both edges of the spectrum, smooths over things a bit, and the coloration is really hit or miss depending on the chain. It’s hard to describe since some of the resolving power, directness, and extension deficiencies are pretty clear in comparison to let’s say the axiom, it just sounds more fleshed out and engaging, and there’s absolutely some value in that, and makes the axiom feel really just boring. This is actually a great example of how a lot of the time a “tubey” character that people like to point to can come more from transformers than tubes lol. Always mixed on it, because on one hand it feels limiting, on another it’s something that I always end up being surprised of how it’s almost a middleground of a passive and active in what it does well
I’ve tried a lot of other passive preamps in this price range, and most of them aren’t really noteworthy, they do the job, and fine enough for lower end setups but show the limitations in the high end, these were the few standouts for me, but I’m not super experienced in the preamp realm. If you just need a cheap pot in a box for a budget setup, something like the palmer monicon or schiit sys work well nicely. For something more midrange I also think the pine tree sp1 or bellari pp532 is nice for the price for a somewhat upgrade from the sys. Although at these under 300 ish range passives, you could likely diy something more impressive sounding for much better value. Otherwise I’d just save more for the above if you care about overall quality and aren’t looking for a cheap bandaid/problem solver
Also, the mystery preamp I mentioned in a different post is a “The Truth” preamp, and glad I picked one up, but it will be awhile before I comment on it (and discuss the rest of the lineup of the cheaper actives that I’ve been working on getting). Reason I bring that up now is because sorta passive (kinda) sorta active, sorta awesome, and sorta going to seriously impact the range it’s in lol
Depends on design, but sometimes you can simply get away with just a simple xlr to rca cable that drops a pin which is least degradation imo, but you might end up with too hot of an output, or on some designs this might ignore half the circuit which wouldn’t be preferable. The other two routes you could go would be with a transformer, or active preamp, both of which have their own ups and downs, and also depend on the specific transformers and preamps at hand. What specifically are you looking to convert from bal to se?
