My headphone amp has a very good ALP RK50 volume control (not stepped). This is one of those "legendary" components. However, this is a very BIG pot and it costs quite a lot. A friend tried to buy one from the US distributor. He was told that the price is $850 each, and the minimum order size is 50 units. Headamp, the maker of my headphone amp, might be willing to sell someone this pot as they keep it in stock for their own products.
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Magnum PI, do you have the ALPS RK50? Its the very large and expensive ($800) volume control. Did you compare this volume control to a Goldpoint stepped attenuator in the same system and find that the Goldpoint attenuator sounds better? That would be great news for Goldpoint since their stereo attenuators are around the $200 point and the alps is over $800. I use a Goldpoint and am interested in your findings. Thanks Jet |
My issue with some stepped attenuators is that many don't have enough steps; it seems like the ideal level is somewhere between the two steps. I find 24 steps is WAY to few; those with something like 47 steps, and steps no larger than than 1.5 db are okay. There are also some interesting alternatives to conventional resistor attenuation. A friend made a passive linestage that utilized a remotely controlled light-dependent resistor attenuator. This provided reasonably fine-grained volume changes (1 db per step), the convenience of remote control (really a necessity to me), but, it did not offer balance control (another necessity to me). I liked the sound of his passive linestage which is really nothing more than the attenuator plus input/output jacks and a source selector. When it comes to passive linestages, the ones I tend to like the most utilize transformer volume controls (TVC)--instead of attenuating by dissipating the signal as heat, transformers convert voltage to current when stepping down the voltage to reduce volume level. The sound of the TVC's I heard was quite dynamic and lively. Most TVC's, however, have limited number of steps and can be VERY expensive. An intriguing alternative that works like TVCs is the autoformer volume control made by Dave Slagle. I have heard his autoformer volume control as a separate standalone unit, and as something built into a Vinnie Rossi integrated amplifier. I cannot say how it sounds because I have not tried it in my own gear, but, I do like the fact that it allows for fine grain volume changes (1 db steps), balance control, and remote control. It is better described here: http://http//www.bentaudio.com/index2.html |
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