![]() What kind of amp are you using or planning to use? If it is a solid state amp and you are considering a tube linestage, it is particularly important to audition the specific combination of gear. ![]() I haven't done any sort of careful comparison/experimentation in this regard, so I will just comment that the very best sound I've heard always involved active tube linestages/preamps. But, whenever someone remarks that a system sounded less dynamic when a passive was employed, this is almost always explained away and a compatibility issue. I happen to be one of those people that can use additional gain because I don't have quite enough gain from my phonostage when I am playing headphones (Stax Omega II, Mk.1) both the Stax amp/interface and my Blue Hawaii amp/interface don't provide enough gain.Īs to the issue of compatibility of systems for use with passives, I think that you are probably correct that most systems have reasonably matched input and output impedances that would allow for the use of passives. I suppose that most people don't really need additional gain from their linestage. To me the Placette Active sounded much more alive than their passive products. The idea of a unity gain buffer in an "active" linestage describes the Placette Active linestage. I wouldn't choose or write off listening to any one preamp because it's tube or because it's solid state, plenty of great preamps of either type. ![]() Tube preamps work just fine, as do solid state, and either can have sufficiently low output impedances to drive a typical amp (plenty of tube preamps out there with 600 ohm or lower output impedances which should have no problem driving low cap cable in real world lengths and being loaded by even solid state amps with even relatively lowish input impedances (circa 25K ohms), and plenty of solid state amps and most tube amps have higher input impedances. I'm tempted to build one one of these days. That seems like a better solution of a preamp that's not exactly passive but has no gain circuitry. I always was curious about the Nelson Pass B1 design for a no-gain pre "amp" with a buffer. I never loved passive preamps myself, given the challenge getting sufficiently low and consistent impedance to drive cables and an amp with constant power and frequency response. Hence, a lower priced active unit probably has to use a cheaper attenuator to stay within the same cost level. The quality of the attenuator is VERY critical to sound quality. No matter what the approach, the active units must also include a volume attenuator, and then there is the added cost of power supplies and the active amplification devices. ![]() At lower price points, it is probably much easier to implement very high quality passive approach than to cut corners with either solid state or tube active units. Also, one has to consider whether cost is an important factor. A lot depends on taste, sonic priorities and system matching. I don't think one can universally say that one approach is better than another. The active linestage sounded substantially more lively than the passive. Just for fun, we tried a different active tube linestage. His system was ideal for a passive (very short interconnect leads, high impedance input on the amp, low output impedance from source). He replaced his tube linestage with a passive that relied on a light-dependent resistor attenuator. Both are better than the solid state gear at sounding lively at lower volume levels.Ī friend of mine had a system with a tube amp. The two tube units sound more natural than the solid state units (attack of the notes do not have a "mechanical" sounding edge and notes decay naturally) and seem to deliver more of acoustic instrument harmonic "density" than the solid state gear. The Placette Active is a very good sounding active solid state unit-lively and exciting, the Levinson is on the darker and polite sounding side (but, it is amazingly flexible and versatile). The transformer-based passive sounded pretty good, but, it has too limited volume steps to make it easy to find the ideal volume setting. In my system, active units were preferable (long interconnect to the amp). 32 solid state units, and I have two tube-based units (Emotive Audio Epifania) and a custom-built unit with input and output transformers (should be used with an amp with matching input transformers). The ladder resistor was a Placette unit, the transformer was from Silver Rock, I own a Placette Active linestage and a Levinson No. I have some heard passive (ladder resistor attenuator and transformer based attenuator) linestages and solid state and tube linestages in my system.
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