ROWD and I have been through this and if anyone does not think this is a MAJOR ISSUE they cannot hear….here is my short story I by accident ruined a khozmo attenuator while painting a faceplate on a dual mono passive and pulled the other out and then substituted with ALPS and I was floored which led me to another world….and as a result I even took a 5K ARS SONUM FILHARMONIA AND ripped it apart to replace the ALPS with a pair of KHOZMO which now set externally on the chassis and the difference made a 5K integrated sound like a a 10 k integrated…..CHEAP POTS TURN MY STOMACH.
I replaced the volume pot on my tube preamplifier.
Replaced the two mono Alps pots in phono preamp with Tocos (Tokyo Cosmos), RV24 units. I heard good things about these pots on other forums. Fair bit of work getting them to fit into the Croft 25R. I had to loosen the tube boards and drill out the mounting holes for the larger threads. The pots were only $26 for both inc tax and shipping. Huge improvement in speed, clarity, solidity, and transparency. I'm blown away.