Passive Volume Control for DACs/Sources

Cheap enough that maybe we could measure against Saga?

Skeptical of how well it could do XLR/SE conversions though at this price.

 

XLR and SE sounds the same. An honest audio dealer compared it to a $20K preamp and was shocked on how close it was,

 

Hell yeah! Thanks! No way this can be worse than Mackie and JBL junk unless it’s using knockoff parts.

 

Wow I might have to try that nobsounf for $60

 

The audio dealer posted again today. He bought a second one to run dual mono. He said a 200 hours for a break-in. The sound is even better than before, he said.

The preamp he compared it to was a Lamm.

 

Too funny. Afraid to try a $56 passive that you can return? They do sound harsh when you first listen, I can attest to that. I say 100 hours. Everything needs a break-in period.

 

Why does it sound harsh? In fact, why does it sound like...anything?

 

Hey if your Mackie passive Big Knob has no audible problems then it’s probably fine! I’m guessing Mackie just has no QC from my poor experiences with their newer products and knowing that they are made in Behringer’s former Chinese plant pre Behringer City.

Massive dealer return policies from places like Amazon make trying this junk pretty easy knowing that you won’t get burned if it has channel imbalance at 11 o clock.

 

Mackie made great products until Jamie took over way back, outsourced everything and generally gutted the company in the name of $$$. He's gone now but the damage was done. And don't get me started on the HR824mkII with the marketing frequency response bump to make it stand out in A/B at guitarmarts. At least the designers hid three pots on the PCB that can back out this abomination.

Have one inbound and will put into the measurement queue. I'm willing to bet it works fine with the following two major differences:
1. channel imbalance becomes noticeable at high attenuation
2. not a stepped attenuator so precise, repeatable levels require metering - not an issue for 99.999% of listeners. Only lab types really care about this.

 

Level matching is also extremely useful when mixing/mastering to check against reference recordings to hear and replicate “how it was done” especially when many mastered commercial recordings are Eqed, multiband compressed, and saturated just right on transients (recording to tape or using a plugin can do wonders) to make you want to crank it to higher than 95 dB averages without distorting or treble becoming too painful. Engineers have gotten better than ever at “crankability” in service of loudness and it’s good to dial back the overall volume to a standard level to truly compare.

 

Damn! I didn’t know Amazon did that. In store purchasing where you can test it yourself before you buy is best? Bezos forbids me and some other guys from buying and returning certain cheap audio products (certain mics, cables, and cans) on Amazon due to buying in bulk on sale and returning half of them that were defective. I was told all future sales to me of those products would final due to returning over two of them or something but I can return anything else. I thought other people might win the lottery and only lose 4 days of time if they have prime.

 

Palmer Monicon seems to be well reviewed and priced quite well (XLR applications).

https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Fully-Balanced-Single-Ended-Pre-Amplifier-Controller/dp/B01MXC9HHW

LOVE THIS REVIEW HAHAHAHA

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsDon't buy the schiit sys, get this!
September 5, 2017
Color: Silver
10/10 - once again you do a little research and see that schiit lies about making the best products at the best price - this preamp truly makes the schiit sys look like the over-priced piece of garbage it is. Way better knob feel, way better build quality!

 

Schiit’s cheaper and made in the USA. Why would you buy that if you only need RCA?

 

I also bought the $59 Nobsound with three inputs and two outputs for $59. I am now burning it in. It sounded quite harsh the first night I listened.

I bought a used Tisbury today off of Ebay for $125 so I will compare that one also. Another Dact type off of Ebay is coming in from Hong Kong next week. I paid $99 for it. At these cheap prices, it is hard to stop buying and trying.

 

Lol burning in a passive pot. Only burning real pot actually does anything and you gotta inhale!

Unless it’s been sitting around and you need to just turn the knob a bunch to get the dust off and kill static there is no burn in. These aren’t speaker surrounds. Burn in is done at reputable manufacturers to test for premature product failures, not to change the sound.