saga preamp technical measurements

nitpick: Johnson noise
Johnston noise is what my colleague jj makes when someone suggests using mp3 for the source recording, fully intending to edit and transcode the mp3 in post.

 

I agree, I wasn't suggesting a lack of performance or need to improve the circuit. Rather I had certain assumptions of how a passive circuit 'should' perform and I am trying to learn about the reasons for academic curiosity.

Also I should have looked at your graphs a bit closer before posting. I would have seen the noise floor is essentially 140dB and seen that spike at 60Hz.

 

All good. The "talking out loud" discussion is for the benefit of the larger audience that peruses these pages. There is a LOT of data presented so I understand that it may take awhile to get through it all.

As a side note; it took me 1 hr setup / calibration, 6 hrs measurement and vetting of data, 1 hr organizing the data and 1 hr to post it all for a total of 9 hrs. Helps to be an acousticus measurebus to do this.

 

Your work is highly appreciated. SBAF/Changstar is the only place I get measurements of tube gear in any form.

 

Some of those distortion measurements are VERY impressive.
I mean 0.000xx distortion from any of those 3 modes of operation is remarkable to say the least and to achieve that level of performance for the price, is one of those jaw dropping moments for sure.

JJ

 

I thought that Schiit's website would have specs on the the impedance of the passive stage but I can't find it. Did you happen to measure what the maximum impedance is? 10k? 50k?

 

Oops, I'll have to add that. It's a 10K ladder.

 

It is 10.0K when selected. When not selected the input is open circuit.

 

And this is actually key. Unlike most other preamps that use a switch for a selector, the Saga does not leak signal among sources connected to it when multiple of them are playing. This is important for me because I want to go through the Yggdrasil for CDs, and use the player itself for the occasional SACD, but the player does not turn off its analog out when outputting a digital signal.

 

Sorry to re open this thread from the pet cemetery. But i would like to thanks @atomicbob
I needed theses measures for a basic course in electronics im attending online, searched in google, and... this thread was the one.
Stay safe and healthy!