Passive decission

[Feanor]

A month or so ago I reported a little experiment that compared my current preamp, (Sonic Frontiers Line 1), with simple passive preamp. The latter consisted of nothing but an ALPS potentiometer and connectors. From that experiment, and your comments, I concluded that passive preamps have great potential to sound better than active preamps.

There are considerations however, and not all source and power amp combos are amenable to having nothing between them but an attenuator. However you should be good if your source has low output impedance, your target (power amp) has high input impedance, and you can keep your cables short. I felt these conditions were met in my case, and my experiment proved this me.

Being butt lazy I decided I need a passive preamp with remote volume control at leas; multiple inputs would be handy too. I consider several options based on price and availability. What I ended up with is Jolida JD50A "control unit". Jolida designed this unit to complement their non-remote amps of the time. From what I understand it's basically a 100k ALPS 'Blue' attenuator plus a manual input selector and component power switching facilities.

This unit is now hooked up, driving both my Class D Audio amp and my PSB subwoofer. It's doing a great job. Here's a pic: atop the unit is its remote controller and my new, $50 Wolfson-based DAC which is also doing a great job. BTW, the Jolida is wearing an improvised "collar" aroung the volume control so I can see the setting from across the room, (my eyes being what they are). Under the Jolida is my Belkin power surge protector & filter device.