pre-amp recomendations

[Willem]

I really don't think he or anyone needs a traditional pre amp anymore.
The RME is of course exceptionally good and good value so I like it a lot. However it might just be overkill given the rest of the gear unless you are planning an upgrade path.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The Little Bear MC2 sounds transparent to me, either used with Focal Aria 906 or JBL 305p mkII.
I would stay away from Nobsound amps and DACs, but in a passive pre-amp what could go wrong?

Output impedance being high which could roll off the treble. If interconnect is kept short it's ok. And does it have a remote?

 

[JeffS7444]

Another possibility might be to just purchase a separate equalizer such as this:

https://www.behringer.com/Categorie...rs/Equalizers/FBQ800/p/P0334#googtrans(en|en)

Although I already own a much more sophisticated 1/3rd octave equalizer, I use that more as a set-and-forget room correction device, whereas the simpler eq with physical controls might work better as a tone control, and I’m thinking it might be particularly useful when listening to vinyl.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I really don't think he or anyone needs a traditional pre amp anymore.
The RME is of course exceptionally good and good value so I like it a lot. However it might just be overkill given the rest of the gear unless you are planning an upgrade path.

Yeah the Topping or SMSL fit fine and are good performing pieces.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Another possibility might be to just purchase a separate equalizer such as this:

https://www.behringer.com/Categorie...rs/Equalizers/FBQ800/p/P0334#googtrans(en|en)

Although I already own a much more sophisticated 1/3rd octave equalizer, I use that more as a set-and-forget room correction device, whereas the simpler eq with physical controls might work better as a tone control, and I’m thinking it might be particularly useful when listening to vinyl.

No remote.

 

[daftcombo]

Output impedance being high which could roll off the treble. If interconnect is kept short it's ok. And does it have a remote?

No, but it is not even an electrical device. Just RCA/XLR in, RCA/XLR out, no power cable.

 

[Blumlein 88]

No, but it is not even an electrical device. Just RCA/XLR in, RCA/XLR out, no power cable.

Yes, but I thought the OP wanted a remote. In the right application the passive is an excellent choice.

 

[JeffS7444]

No remote.

As an add-on to an existing preamp, not needed.

 

[BobPM]

I know Schiit is not always the most popular equipment around here, but the Saga pre was reasonably well reviewed and its big brother, the Freya+ has some interesting options. I am looking at getting a hypex or purifi amp that is as transparent as possible and then getting a Freya+ pre-amp so I can dial in the sound (distortion) I want. I still listen to my old vinyl and like to stay analog when I do. In addition, I think being able to add tubes to the input when you have some bad recordings might really help at times, and the Freya has a passive option, a solid state with gain option and a tube option.

 

[ejenner]

Just to conclude this thread. I plugged in the RME for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was pleased by the clarity I was hearing. It's a nice piece of well made equipment and has the right number of features. It's exactly what I was looking for. That's the good news.

The bad news is that it didn't improve the sound quality of my system in the most important way. But that's nothing to do with RME or the pre-amp part of my setup. So I could've improved the sound quality a long time ago if I'd known what to do.

The biggest difference has come from fitting attenuators at the end of the RCA cables where they connect to the power amp. Essentially my power amp was too sensitive and amplifying the signal too much meaning the full range of signal couldn't be sent to the power amp without turning the volume right up to silly levels.

Having the RME helped as the display was showing -40 at the volume control meaning it was reducing the signal well below the ideal level to get the right sound at the speakers.

With the attenuators fitted and set to their maximum setting my system has come alive. I knew deep down it wasn't right the way it was but had lulled myself into acceptance with some tracks which sounded good and getting used to the system sounding as it did. As I say, it's transformed from where it was with a couple of £20-quid attenuators installed.

Settings on the RME for bass and treble both set at zero and the equalizer is off.. which means I'm not requiring any artificial correction. It's able to run in full 768kHz mode with the compensations turned off. RME keep it a bit quiet but despite being a very powerful device the load on a DAC/CPU is very high at 768kHz and if you want to turn on all the compensations it makes a lot more work for the chips and that causes a drop in resolution. There's just no way to process at that rate and manipulate the sound at the same time so it drops in quality if you ask it to do more. Obviously this isn't a flaw in the RME, lesser equipment would struggle more.

Overall things have gone very well and I regret nothing about my setup. I've not had to abandon any equipment, it just took a while to find out about and source all the correct parts to make it sound right.

 

[Willem]

Yes gain matching is important and often has real sonic benefits. My Quad 606-2 power amplifier has an (old fashioned European) 0.5 Volt input sensitivity, so I also need inline attenuators between the ADI-2 and the power amp. But that is neither a problem nor a fault of the ADI-2. I also suggest you use auto reference level setting.
I think trying to use 768kHz is ridiculous overkill (and it is not quite clear to me what you are doing). Do you have any files at that resolution? CD Red Book resolution is 44 kHz and DVD 48 kHz and both are fine with me. Conversely the various tone/loudnes/filter controls are extremely useful and for me the reason to have this unit.

 

[ejenner]

You get 320kbps with Spotify premium. But I've got a taste for it now, so going to give Amazon Music HD a try. Offline the highest resolution files I have are .flac files which were ripped from audio CDs. No idea what sort of quality they're likely to come out at.

 

[ejenner]

yeah, just having a go with the Amazon Music HD just now. On a different level to Spotify. They've got some Ultra HD stuff on there.

 

[A800]

You can also consider the very convenient Little Bear MC2 for 35$.
XLR and RCA inputs, XLR and RCA output, volume control, doesn't need electricity to work.
I have two of them.

That's not a pre-amp.
It's just a pot from what I can see.

 

[Willem]

You get 320kbps with Spotify premium.

Are you confusing bit rate for lossy compression with sample rate?

 

[ejenner]

yes, but I don't care too much about the various measurements, not got time to learn it all. Higher numbers everywhere is a good policy and you should hear the way this system sounds now. Two incremental changes have taken place today and it's totally different from where it was this morning. Adding the attenuators before the amp and then trying Amazon HD in place of Spotify has really shifted things up a gear. Really happy with it.

 

[daftcombo]

That's not a pre-amp.
It's just a pot from what I can see.

It is a passive preamp.

 

[A800]

It is a passive preamp.

"Amp" stands for amplifier.
No such thing in this box afaik.

 

[Willem]

What's in a name? I have always thought the name passive preamp a bit odd, as it does not amplify but only reduces volume.

 

[ejenner]

to be fair... 'pre' amp is before amplification.