I have been learning a lot about volume controls of late. In my years of having various components, I have never really thought about volume control quality.
Back to the Mytek. Darko has a review up with a preference of an outboard preamp (BHK Pre-$6000). Darko does state, however, the Mytek does sound very good job with direct input
There is a poster on another thread that uses a 1/3rd octave 31 band eq, as his passive device ( it has dual channel gain controls ). He compared it, flat, to 5 K preamps, and says it is superior to his ears. I have the same eq ( and I tried it via his recommendation ), but did not feel it came close to my Luminous unit in sq. However, it bettered some of my cheapie preamps ( RGR, Hitachi, AGI, Citation, GAS, SAE, Dynaco ). I sold my 2 megabuck preamps, which were both bettered by my Luminous unit.
For late night listening, I currently have a Schiit EQ (Loki) in the effects/tape loop connection of the Rogue. I just boost the lower frequencies a little...basically I use it as a loudness switch. Since the EQ has "true" bypass, I can just use it in line between dac and amp if I decide to ditch preamp.
An excellent choice for late night low volume listening, and the Schiit Loki at $149 is a bargain, does all what you said and more,
https://www.schiit.com/products/loki
just put it between any of these configurations: 1: Between source and poweramp (if you have source volume control) 2: Between source and preamp 3: Between your preamp and poweramp. 4: Or in the tape loop on an integrated amp.
I've been using the Oppo 205 as a preamp as well, straight to the mcintosh mc275, but am considering putting a ps audio stellar gain cell in between to see if there's an improvement.
I just found the Benchmark preamp interesting if someone wanted an ultra quiet, active preamp. The volume control seems to be of real high quality as well.
For late night listening, I currently have a Schiit EQ in the effects/tape loop connection of the Rogue. I just boost the lower frequencies a little...basically I use it as a loudness switch. Since the EQ has "true" bypass, I can just use it in line between dac and amp if I decide to ditch preamp.
I had a Benchmark DAC3 and was using that direct into the Benchmark AHB2 amp. It was rather good but had some problems for me at lower volumes. I listen a lot late at night, like right now, and I wanted more granularity in my volume control.
Benchmark has the new pre-amp listed above that I may consider for the 30 day home trial. I would pair it with the Benchmark DAC3B (without volume control) if I went back to Benchmark gear.
I listened to my Project S2 this morning for about an hour or so. The soundstage was just as good as the Rogue. The Project seemed to present a more "pure" signal where the Rogue added a touch of warmth (it is a tube preamp). Bass, mids sound wonderful. High's extend just a little more (maybe because it is solid state). Nothing fatiguing. The tubes on the Rogue have probably 60-70% life left.
I boxed up most of my gear in preparation for an upcoming move. In the interim I’m using my Oppo 205 as a preamp. It sounds so good that I may keep using it as a preamp after my move.
Another post about passive. Just try it, and, for a while. Believe me when I say, I had 2 preamps above an RP5 in sq, that colored the sound, held back details and information on my recordings, and unnaturally added balls and oomph to the music. Listen to SRVs " Tin Pan Alley ", a song many believe has been over played, but shows every attribute, and weakness, in a system.
yes. I used it a couple years ago for about 2 or 3 weeks and was amazed how much better it sounded vs my Nova preamp. I'm getting ready to switch now and I will share my findings. I'm interested to see if I will "miss" my Rogue RP-5 preamp.
My Adcom GDA 700, feeds my Luminous Audio Axiom II, with Walker Mod, 3 in, 2 out ( single ended ), with remote, feeds any number of power amps. I replaced a few excellent preamps with this, soon after I purchased a very high gain power amp ( Nuforce STA 200 ). I am currently using an ADA PF 2501 amp in this configuration, and I never heard this amp before ( meaning, it never sounded this good ). No preamp for me.
I was watching a PS Audio video where the owner was saying digital volume controls , like many dacs and PS Audio preamps have, are better.
Source digital domain volume controls are the best, but! You need to be careful that if you attenuate too much with them you start to "bit strip", that is you get 14 bit or 12bit music resolution, instead of 16bit. Don't go below 75% of full with them it's said, and you don't run that risk of "bit striping" the music.
If you have to go lower than 75% because it's too loud, then your better off leaving it up full (100%), and using a passive preamp to attenuate to a good loud level, then use the digital volume to change the volume between 100% and 75%.
I was watching a PS Audio video where the owner was saying digital volume controls , like many dacs and PS Aufio preamps have, are better. Paul describes analog volume as a brake in controlling sound vs an accelerator which you find in digital.
I believe the Myteks give a choice for analog or digital volume output.
Yes +1 pdreher if you like the sound of your source, a lot of money is saved this way, as all preamps have their own colourations, and you need to go through a few before getting the right one you like, why not just do the same with the source and forget the preamp.
I use my Audio Aero Capitol Reference cdp/DAC direct into a Music Reference RM9 Mk2 amp. The sound quality is excellent and I don’t miss having a preamp. I wish I had gone this route years ago.
So true, but many seem to like it (preamp) colouring their source because they "maybe" don’t have the right one (source) yet, so prefer the bandaid fix it instead.
When I was awaiting my new Rogue RP-5 preamp a couple years back, I used my project s2 Dac ( only digital inputs) as my main pre. I was amazed how good it sounded. much better than the Peachtree nova pre I had just sold.
the RP-5, besides all the inputs and features, had just a little more “flavor”. I’m assuming due to the tubes it came with. I really cannot day the Rogue sounds better, just a little different. I did try a SYS passive a while back and felt, with the amp I currently have, that the soundstage narrowed slightly. I also tried the Pro-next again and it sounded nice.
Since i only need one analog input for my SACD player, I was thinking I could sell the Rogue and go with a Brooklyn Dac+. 99% of my listening is my ripped library, including dad sacd rips, Qobuz and Tidal——all thru Roon
A dac with volume ability "generally" has no preamp in it, it has a low output impedance buffer stage, and a "digital domain volume control". That buffer is usually as good as most solid state preamps output, low impedance and has enough voltage to send most amps to give full wattage (clipping)
There are one or two dacs with "analog domain volume" just before the output buffer, that have analog inputs and can switched from the dac chip output to these analog inputs, and the output buffer as above could have "extra gain" put on it via it’s feedback and "said" to be a preamp.
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