Who needs a Preamp??

made a lot better sound than going direct. Specially on dynamics.

That is the sound of a typical "impedance mismatch" when this is said with direct or passive or even active preamp .

Audiophiles need to understand this "impedance matching" (>1:10 ratio) a lot more.
Then there will be a lot less experimenting and expensive mistakes done if they do.
If not they’re just p*****g into the wind changing things without any idea of what’s needed.

Just like a "impedance mismatch" can be had with "nearly" all tube preamps into a power amp with less than <10-20kohm input impedance.

It’s called "impedance matching"
And it goes right down the chain from source to speakers.
1: Source direct to poweramp,
2: Source to preamp,
3: Preamp to poweramp,
4: And yes even poweramp to speaker load impedance (this ones called damping factor)

Cheers George

  atmasphere
I'm unconvinced. People that don't like bass may find a passive to their liking.

What a crock of ****. You've really surpassed yourself with that one.

a preamp can soften a digital source and make it listenable

This then is the fault of the source, and not the fault of going direct.

Better to fix the problem (get better source) and not just put a band-aid fix over it, by softening the problem with adding an expensive preamp.

Ivor Tiefenbrun, inventor of the Linn Sondek LP12, had a very good saying.
"It all starts with the source, get that right and your part the way there.
Don't get source right and it'll be a never ending struggle"

Cheers George

I suppose if I had to floor the accelerator to drive 55 mph, maybe I’d think the life was being sucked out of my driving. Then again, maybe I like 55. Nice and safe, good gas mileage…

atmasphere Immediately following the text George quoted above from Nelson Pass is the text above.

That is why one of Nelsons favorite preamps he says is the Aleph L, passive up till 3o’clock then turns active above that if you need the extra gain, but he says at sound a penalty of having active components in the signal path. (They are like unobatinium to find as no one gets rid of them.)

Nelson Pass
Unique to this preamp, patent pending, is a volume level control which combines the best qualities of a passive attenuator and active gain circuitry:
At the 3 o’clock volume control position, the Aleph L offers a direct path from input to output.
The only component in the signal path is wire and switch contacts.
At positions below 3 o’clock, the volume control functions as a precision passive attenuator using discrete resistor ladders.

Above 3 o’clock, active gain is added to the output signal in 2 decibel increments, for a
maximum of 10 dB.
As a result, you suffer the effects of active circuitry only when additional gain is necessary.

almarg
Generally speaking, IMO the burden of proof should always be on adding anything to the signal path that is not an obvious necessity.

This one sentence of almarg’s above and quote from Nelson Pass below, is what going direct or using a passive is all about, so long as they are impedance correct.

A quote from Nelson Pass:

"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.

Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.

Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.

What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.

And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."

One step better than this, is going direct, if the source has a volume control. If you don’t like the sound this way, then you don’t like the sound of your source.

aberyclark
So who makes a passive preamp with balanced ins and outs, two outputs that are active at same time, multiple inputs for various components?

Schiit Freya +, it’s all you ask for, has remote one of the best volume controls you can get, and it’s passive, tube active or solid state active all three switchable on the fly.
https://www.schiit.com/products/freya-1

Cheers George

Who believes that a preamp Improves sound??

Not me  
It adds coloration that some may like.
It takes away transparency.
It adds it’s own distortions on top of what you already have.
Always better direct if your digital source has a volume control.

If you have one of the higher output (>50-60db of gain), phono stages then all you need is passive preamp

Cheers George