Mr. Pass must in fact believe his best effort active preamps sound best. He must believe that. He is charging 10 of thousands for his best preamp effort and he advertises it as the best.
Integrity is also important here. I assume he has integrity and actually believes his mega dollar designs are his best sonic effort. If he felt a passive was best, surely he would spend as much time, money and effort designing a SOTA passive.
An active preamp is no more needed than a fine meal at an upscale restaurant. A simple piece of toast and an apple will take care of ones hunger without the need for an elaborate culinary effort. Sure, a passive is all that is needed. We get it. Gain blah, blah.....
I want to experience a delicious sonic event and I know this is extravagant. I know my active preamp is elaborate and beyond what is needed to play good music. But, I want to indulge and experience something beyond what is merely needed.
Mr. Pass is an electronics Master Chef and I have to believe he and many other audio Master Chefs design with a passion for the best. Master Chefs don't create merely for profit, no they create to deliver an unforgettable experience.
I do not believe companies and individuals making top dollar active preamps are doing so knowing that a $500 passive is just as good and all that is needed. Nor do they do it to just make money.
Integrity is at play here. What about the ads and sales materials these individuals and companies put out saying it is the best sounding and their best effort. Are they also now lying? Integrity. No, I don't really think so.
I think they have genuine passion and creativity for their products and the experiences they deliver to us. |
The point is he and his company advertise these SOTA preamps as best, the point is not that he makes them. |
Milpai, I offer to bring my active to your home and guarantee you will like it better. If not, I will eat one part inside my active :)
Are you close to MInnesota? I have no doubt you will say " I like your active better". No doubt.
Let's do the active throw-down! |
Charles, I fully understand your point as you know. Yeah, I am still confident :) |
I do have the LS attenuator coming for a 4th time and I will try it yet again!
I have a Yamamoto DAC with an output of 3.1volts, three different amps ranging from PP tube, DHT SET tube, and SS monoblocks. Input impedances range from 80kohms to 200K ohms. Amp input sensitivity range from 350mv to 1 volt .My speakers are 92 db effecient and an easy 8 ohms to drive never going below 6 ohms. Simple two way speaker with very few crossover parts.
I will bring a host of ears over for a listen. I am prepared to eat a part of the active pre if not better to all. Perhaps a small part like a resistor!
I do like the LSA as I have owned it twice and tried it three times in various passive friendly systems. Very clean sounding and does everything right. It would be my choice if I could only spend $1,000 or less on a preamp. Quite good indeed.
For all my family listeners and close by Aphiles it was not up to the the musical standard of my active. Why am I trying it a 4th time? Because I am completly astounded and confounded by all the positive press the LSA garners. It beats out $20,000 preamps and the like according to the long thread here on the Gon. I cannot wrap my mind around this as my experiences were quite conclusive three different times with different gear. Yes... all passive friendly.
I am open minded and would love to own a $500 passive that moved me like a $20,000 active. Who could possibly want to spend more just to spend more? Well, ok some would. Not me.
My music room is stocked with gear that will make this comparison fun and interesting yet one more time. |
Marqmike, I own your speakers in a second system for my wife. Very musical speakers. Love the amp you put on them also. Good match. Your system is well matched and looks to be very musical. Well done.
Interesting comments on your experience with the LSA. It certainly sounds good in the right system. I agree with all you said, but wonder how prudent it is to build a system around a passive preamp. I know you did not suggest we do that, but I guess I don't think a passive is that hard to use or work into a system. Most digital front ends have plenty of output and many amps are of sufficient input sensitivity and impedance. Can it be the LSA is pure Magic in 1% of all system combinations:). No. I do t think that is the case. I think it works in many more systems than that. |
I decided to pull my system for privacy and safety concerns I don't want to get into here. I used to have mine posted and had an "issue". Sorry. |
My system has new passive friendly components that are different then before, thus I will try the LSA again!
Charles, I just hooked up the Yamamoto for the first time today and I will wait to give my full impressions. The first hour it was pretty dark and closed in and muddy in the bass. I think it needed to settle into my system. My CEC transport is known to be dark sounding.
After being on 4 hours things are getting better. The highs are coming in and the sound is opening up. Please understand both the Yami and CEC were fresh off the UPS truck!
The Yamamoto is easy on my ears and pleasing to listen to. Not at all harsh or bright with not a hint of glare. All very good stuff! |
John, I owned Merlin VSM speakers three times! All used. They had a certain sound that was appealing and so darn close to my dream speaker. In the end they just lacked the weight/body of music I hear live and on other great systems. The LSA has left me with the exact same past experience, so close to audio bliss but........the weight.......the body.....? Will this time be different with higher efficiency speakers, DHT amp and the Yamamoto Dac? We will see. I have it in my home to sell so why not try! |
I will report back on what is. I am an open minded Aphile who is NOT tied to any one piece of gear. Goodness, Agon folks should know this by now.
The LSA is playing now and works well in my current set up. |
I have a bad back so thus far LSA is up by one! |
George, I want your device to do well and that is why I try it yet one more time on a different assortment of gear. My open minded ways is always curious and willing to experiment. I love great values in audio and have learned a great deal over the past few years on building and modifying gear |
Yeah, I did not buy the unit three of the times. This one is a friends that wants me to sell it for him. I sell gear for friends often as witnessed by my prolific feedback:) Anytime I read about dozens of folks saying a $500 passive toasted their $5,000-$20,000 active it gets my attention. Again, I have different gear that seems best matched to achieve the magic so many write about.
I may build a battery supply for it, upgrade the RCA's, dampen the chassis and use better hook up wire. Again, it is behaving nicely thus far and may indeed be worthy of a few simple upgrades. |
Yes indeed, that comment was based on experience to that date. That is reasonable? Right? Experience changes opinions. We are all in a state of change if we are open to new experiences. Going back in time for a quote is a waste of time George. I really do not understand your negative ways.
Anyway, thus far your design is making me rethink what is possible with a passive. I will post my honest opinion regardless of how petty you are behaving. |
Here is that comment from five years ago in the full context.
George, you totally tried to mislead others and seem to want to smear me in some way. The total context is both reasoned an open minded to your design. Quite the opposite of what you are trying to portray. Someday you will hopefully see I am an honest and curious Aphile with no conspiracy plan against your or any passive.
06-14-10: Grannyring
Like your input George. I would love to try your preamp in my system and compare to my tube preamp. I can't believe I even said this as I am usually 100% against passives based on my experience with these in the past. It's just that several highly respected Agoners seem to think your $450 unit is the real deal giant killer. I have a giant in my opinion : |
My comments are well thought out, honest, and my experience. It does not line up exactly with yours so I am somehow flawed as a poster according to you. I don't know why I take your bait? Perhaps I am hopeful of a nicer, more reasoned side of you.
For those interested, the LSA is very, very good with my DHT 845 amp. I am liking it more than ever with this amp and my current speakers. My past experience with the LSA has always been positive and my detailed posts reflect that fact on the LSA thread. But, currently it is exceeding my expectations and the second best "preamp" I have had in my system. More to come with further listening and time. |
I am 6' 4" and 215 with a shaved bald head that makes me look a little reptilian. That may cause very few to back down!
The Lightspeed is indeed one of the very best buys in all of audio. In my current set up I can find very little fault and love the unit. In fact I liked it so much I decided to try and make it work even better in my rig.
I removed the LSA from its chassis and inserted the board directly into my Yamamoto dac. Yes, the output of the dac feeds the LSA board directly using very high quality silver/gold wire. I bypassed two sets of RCAs and an IC this way. I then mounted the volume control to the front of the dac.
The sound is nothing short of outstanding and pure. The dac is solid state and stays at room temp at all times so the LSA components are always happy.
So I now have a wonderful Yamamoto dac with built in LS Attenuator. |
