Passive Volume Control for DACs/Sources

The only imbalance that I have heard is at very low volumes, but that is the characteristics of that Alps pot. The IFI Ican Ipro that I owned uses that pot also, and it was imbalanced at low volumes.

 

Don’t beat your self up for agreeing with him. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. He may have the right answer but he got there with the wrong logic. Just because Schiit has a product that is the least expensive and is made in the USA does not mean they are the only answer to the question.

 

Well Axiom will burn in your new passive pre for $35. There must be something that needs burn in if Axiom will charge you for it.

In the Nobsound, there is a small integrated circuit board inside, just not a volume pot.

 

I use Schiit sys and it works great for SE, I wished Schiit had a balanced passive preamp. But I needed XLR, and Palmer Monicon was way better than Nobsound, I mean I connected Nobsound it into the chain and heard a noise., removed it and the noise was gone. That was it, I sent it back, but it could be just this one unit. With $50-100 devices like that you just have to be lucky.

 

@Ozarktom if you are collecting SE passives as well as balanced pick up a used Saga let us know what you think.

 

Faulty logic. Just because someone will charge you for doing something, doesn’t mean it needs doing. Maybe you shoulda got them to cryogenically freeze it too.

 

Let's drop the burn-in thing and just talk about SQ. I guess burn in is a taboo subject around here.

 

The gold one has a silver knob? Fail!

 

Ifi pro can whatever is a mainstream eretailer and audio dealer sold product. The build cost is probably 1/6th of the 1800 usd retail cost. Using a sicko pot like Coleman does in their controller (basically a sick pot, switches, and jacks in a rackmountable case) would probably double the build cost thus retail price. Direct sale only and less so pro dealer only sold stuff can afford to have higher build costs relative to price so that Coleman thing might cost like 400-500 to build and can sell at 1200.

Winders? Logic? Logic based on cost benefit? What? Error detected. System must now reboot.

Sys is the cheapest thing that works dude. Works. Cheap. Functional. Jacks screwed to box. Not made of potentially knockoff electrical parts or rebranded oem rejects.

I have the personal logic and willpower now to just use as few boxes as possible and not give a f**k. Most people won’t care about detail loss with the cheapo powered monitors they’re using on a desk out of a Modi. I wouldn’t as stuff like JBLs don’t have detail in the first place and Yamahas drier than Jeremy Irons. Sure you will notice it on better stuff but better stuff will need better sources and rooms. I do care about that but if I was running a Modi or Behringer to JBL 305s I sure as hell would care more about having that extra 50 bucks for 60 cans of PBR than worrying my external pot is dulling the sound a bit. Difference between generic made in China and Sys is a six pack of beer difference in price man. If you’re 23 and just want to turn it down at midnight to not get evicted, you would appreciate the price difference. But you’re not. You’re an old retired dude with money with a mix of expensive and cheap toys to use at will to get exactly what you want soundwise should you care and not want to flex.

Why do you think I use an all in one and stopped buying this crap myself? So I don’t have to worry about it. What I have just works, I can put it on a desk, I don’t need a rack or stereo stand, it sounds more normal than cheap or boutique crap, it won’t break easily unless I’m a hotplugging tard, it just works, and sounds good. All it’s missing is ADAT for hotplugging goodness. I don’t care if the internal pot dulls the sound as hell I am not spending 600 bucks on a goldpoint or transformer box for 1% clearer sound or 50 to 1200 bucks on something else with a pot that will also dull or color the sound when I already have a pot. The only alternatives I considered were Lynx Hilo (more features and money but way less dynamic sounding despite betting imaging), a Lavry Black box (great sound but much worse over USB, less dynamic, and more expensive and AES card needed), Dramwer MC3.1 (more features but would need AES PCI-E card for d to a so more $$$ and laptops excluded), and Prism Sound box (more colored and more $$$ but what I would get if I wanted to convert this setup into a one box project studio. Needs midi though). Nothing I hadn’t heard (except the converters in the more featured Drawmer) I even considered as to hell with blind buying and I sure wasn’t going to buy anything from a “polite” (veiled) brand like Grace, RME, or Apogee or trash can fire like Mytek. I did my homework and got the coolest all in one for my setup that does everything. It’s not a toy, it’s my late night metal listening setup that just works perfectly for late night head banging. I can also move it in a laptop bag and use it in the practice space or basement for big speaker head banging from a coffee table fed by a CD player as yeah it makes a sick active pre too with no conversion steps. It’s headbangable and will cause less brain cell loss than car crashes.

All of these external volume control solutions (buffered pots, buffered resistor ladders, transformers, passive pots, passive resistor ladders) have their own problems. Even resistor ladders have less usable volume settings than big pots despite better channel matching and usually less dulling. With internal volume control available, I feel compelled to use it ahahahaha.

 

It's not a taboo subject but one needs to understand the difference between reliability engineering bathtub curves, why better manufacturers employ 100 hr burn-in to weed out infant mortality in components vs. magic electron theory heretics (METH) espoused by those who haven't even close to a clue in the engineering world.

 

We will find out. When I'm done evaluating you want to torture it with the SRS and listen with your own ears?

 

Was it only the HR mk2 series with the FR bump? It's been a long time since I've heard it, but I liked the HR series much more than similar monitors that I heard at the time... but that may have been the mk1's.

At this point in time, I only like Mackie for their mixers (mostly the CFX and VLM series that I have experience with). I've got a pair of SRM350mk1 sitting in my basement; one of which needs a new woofer but that's just too expensive to fix for now.

Did yours develop the static/crackling sound on the outputs?[/QUOTE]

 

What the heck! Are those heatsinks that spell out "Hattor Audio"? On a passive preamp that doesn't need any heat dissipation?!

I wouldn't buy it just because of that. Way too much money on casing

 

The $39 Nobsiound passive almost sounds as good as the $56 Nobsound, but the cheaper one has a plastic case that is glued together. I like the metal case much better.

I will keep watch for a used Saga, but the next one on my list to buy is a used Axiom II with the Walker Mod. I saw a used one go for $200 fairly recently.

 

My friend still has his Tortuga with remote and his Warp Speed with remote up for sale if you know anybody looking for one. He said with the Nobsound, he will have to glue a long stick to the knob for his remote.

 

@Ozarktom have you seen the Tortuga LDR3 passive preamplifier high THD distortion analysis?

 

I still have a pass b1 with a simple Alps blue pot.

DIY this cost about 125$ to build depending on the PSU. extremely transparent

If I needed a volume control, id get this: https://www.ecdesigns.nl/en/info/svc