Thoughts on the Signal Path

Cool!!!!

I'm one of those who never found the ideal pre/amp combo. I was never happy. My Morrison ELAD which is considered by many critics to be as good as any preamp available and which is pure bare bones, dual mono, separate power supply, low gain as you can get seems to me on an intellectual level ideal. And I could live with it rather well. But my hk990 integrated surpasses it. Nothing is separate and it's all hardwired and solenoid switched together, and it changed my thinking. It defies the purist notion of separates that I previous held.

Forgot to include that the pre in the hk990 integrated is active. Agree. I don't think I'd be ultimately happy with a passive line stage and that if you use one you have to know what you're doing which includes using an amp with the right sensitivity.

The longer the signal path, the greater the capacitance, yes?

You lost me. Example please?

You don't have to answer that, Mapman. I'll call it alzheimers. So then it's a tie between synthesis and shortest possible signal path. I could go for that.