I have a Quicksilver Integrated Amplifier. It is a tube amp, it has a volume control, and it sounds great. It is rated at 20 watts. A simple no-controls JDS Labs+ DAC feeds the amp, and the amp feeds Focal Aria 906 speakers, specified 89.5 dB sensitivity. I listen at moderate volume; the control stays around 10:30 o'clock. Well, it is around 12:20 o'clock when the input is from a phono preamp.
amplifier with volume control
I began my journey with an active preamp then switched to a placette passive which was more transparent but sucked the life out of my system (but I was using longer interconnects to monoblocks). I have one source (a computer with a usb dac) and am now running direct to my amplifier which sounds much better than my previous 2 configurations. I am using a digital volume control and my thought is to change to an amp with a built in volume control - like an audion - or have a tech install one on my amplifier. My question is how is an amp with a volume control different - if at all- from a passive (simple pot in a box) connected with short interconnects to an amplifier? thank you