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Khozmo, Hattor, opinions?
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I agree with others who have said passives can be problematic. I've had a passive as well as the Adcom-750 which I used mostly in passive mode. The straight passive I had (the Ellington I believe) offered 6dB of passive gain as well. Sound was generally good, but I found staging to be a bit flat so I went back to active. Certainly equipment and room matching are considerations.
I've had them both. I say go for the real shit - schiit.
The performance of the Kara I have now, which cost something like $700, is shockingly good. It can passive also, or low or high gain.
The sound is so good I have to call it without fault.
Gone are my days of $10K+ tube preamps, that's for sure.
(And, Schiit's other pre, the Freya, is on S-phile's Class A list, alongside $30K monsters. And really the Kara is superior to it, frankly.)
I do dislike one thing about the Kara: No volume display. There is no easy way to track settings, nor make precise movements with the remote.
That's honestly its only fault IMO.
I have owned the Hattor Audio "The Big" preamp with the top tier resistor package for almost two years now. I'm very happy with it paired with either a 300B or EL84 amp. My system is very passive friendly using 104 db efficient speakers and amplifiers with appropriate gain and input sensitivity. It is a very attractive preamp with a high level of build quality. Mine looks exactly like the one above. Comes with an outboard power supply. Arek Kallas is the owner and he is very responsive and a gem to deal with. Shipping from Poland was only 70.00 and I had it in less than a week after it was shipped.
I would be happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
Well the preamp was certainly more than 70 bucks.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
I had a couple of power amps that sounded relatively dull and lacking somewhat in dynamics driven by -- or rather through -- a passive preamp.More recently my Schiit Freya+ in Passive mode extremely well with my Topping D90 DAC upstream and my VTV Purifi downstream using balanced connections.
As for the Khozmo it has remote control I wouldn't be without. However the price goes up for 64 step attenuation and XLR connections. Meanwhile the Schiit Kara has more twice as many attenuator steps in all modes including Passive and is less expensive than the Khozmo depending on options.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Edits: 04/22/24
....especially your first sentence.It's much harder to achieve excellent results with a passive which requires some thought and critical system component matching. A good active preamp is less fussy and can still sound outstanding.
I'm presently running the Schiit Kara and I'm very impressed with it regardless of its modest price. I've had other preamps that cost nearly 10x.
Edits: 04/22/24
True. But a system that is set up around a passive will sound better with a "well designed" passive line stage than most any expensive active preamp.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
The only big advantage of a passive preamp IMHO is extreme transparency but other aspects may suffer including frequency response (especially down low) and dynamics. Many passive systems suffer from less than great dynamics and some can sound a little 'thin' or 'lean'.The passives in my life:
- Placette Passive
- McCormack TLC-1
- Adcom GFA-750
- Creek OBH-12
- Schiit Freya+
- Schiit KaraThe Placette was most transparent and convenient of the passives that I've owned. It has 128 discrete volume steps using relay switched precision Vishay resistors and a row of LEDs to show relative Volume Level (in binary number format!). In a 'just right' setup this passive can sound fantastic but in others not so much.
The McCormack TLC-1 was 'thin' sounding in passive mode. It has a unity gain FET buffer that can be switched-in but that caused a noticeable 'veil' compared to passive mode. So the choice really came down to super transparent but thin sounding or slightly veiled with better dynamics.
The Adcom GFA-750 was surprisingly good in both passive and active mode but I preferred it in active mode for a more 'robust' sound and better dynamics.
Creek OBH-12. Don't laugh. That little Volume Pot based passive wasn't bad but I used it in a pinch when I was between preamps.
Schiit Freya+ and the Schiit Kara can both be operated in pure passive mode with their remote controlled discrete resistor switched attenuator. Some like these in passive mode. I preferred them in active mode.
My best sounding Passive setup and why:
Why was this setup passive friendly? Because Cary players are known for their 'hot' and robust output signal meaning their output voltage is higher than the norm AND Cary are also known for being full-bodied, warm, and robust sounding - more so than some others. This will compensate for some shortcomings in passive preamps. The amp also required little drive for full-power output and my speakers were somewhat sensitive so they didn't require a lot of power to play very loud. In other words, I was never toward the high end of the volume range on the passive preamp and had lots of 'head room' to go before pegging the volume control to max. I've had the same Placette Passive in other systems too but it sounded a little polite and not to my liking.P.S. The most transparent active preamp I ever owned was the Benchmark LA4 (HPA4) which was right up their with the best passives yet didn't suffer from polite dynamics or light bass response, or the need for perfect system component matching.
Edits: 04/22/24 04/22/24
The active preamps in my life:Audible Illusions Modulus 3A
Conrad Johnson Premier 17
Don Sachs DS2
Audio Research LS3
Audio Research SP9 II (GNS modded)
BAT VK3i
BAT VK30
Cary SLP 98P
Lamm LL2
DeHavilland Ultraverve 2
Art Audio VPSMy system has always been passive friendly, even when there was no passive in house. As good as any of the above preamps were, none were any better than the best passive devices I've owned, and most were not as good. If you have a robust output stage in your source, don't run stupid long interconnects, and have high input impedance and gain in the input stage of your amplifier, there is absolutely NO reason why dynamics should be challenged when using a well designed passive preamp.
BTW, none of the passive preamps you mentioned are what I would call "top shelf". I can see why you might think them polite. Here are my favorites, in no particular order:Hattor Audio resistor based passive (of course)
Tortuga LDR
TVCs using S&B copper transformersThe Schiit Freya + and Saga + are worth mentioning, very good, but not great.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
Edits: 04/23/24
Of the tube preamps in your list the only one that I might consider without audition is the Cary SLP-98 because I once owned the higher-end SLP-05. I suspect that the SLP-98 is similarly transparent for a tube preamp yet robust and dynamic. The Cary SLP-05 was a fantastic sounding tube preamp.What do you consider to be so special about the Hattor "resistor based passive"? The Placette is also a discrete resistor based passive with precision Vishay resistors.
I would never consider a TVC because none that I know of have a remote control with a decent number of steps. I could be wrong. If one does exist it's got to be a horrendously expensive Rube Goldberg machine ;-)
If I'm not mistaken that Tortuga LDR is a bit of a marketing gimmick with the LDR which stands for "Light Dependent Resistor". It is nothing more than a common photocell that one might use in a hobby project or automatic nightlight.
I'm not anti Passive but I stand by my main complaint. They can be finicky in less than the most ideal setup in terms of component matching and short cables. Actives don't have that problem and good ones are very transparent with none of the Passive shortcomings.
Edits: 04/23/24 04/23/24 04/23/24 04/23/24 04/23/24
Well since you are so happy with active preamps, I know I can't change your mind. I just think your system(s) isn't suited for them, so the performance is mediocre. I get that.The Tortuga LDR is far from a gimmick. It is a fantastic sounding preamp and has the feature of adjustable input impedance, which can really improve the sound of your source.
There are some autoformer preamps that come with remote, the Sonic Euphoria being one and the Icon Smart AVC being another.
I'm not saying the Hattor is any better or worse than the Placette. I do believe that resistor based passives can benefit from upgraded resistors, which is an option in the Hattor that I took advantage of. Beyond that I like the way it looks, the build quality and the awesome remote.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
Edits: 04/25/24
"I know I can't change your mind. I just think your system(s) isn't suited for them..."
Exactly my point! I'm not about to alter the components around my system to suit a singular passive. It's not about changing my mind. I've run passive setups before.
I'm sure the Totruga LDR is a fine sounding passive but the LDR 'gimmick' doesn't set it apart sonically. If the LDR idea was all that I'm sure others would be incorporating it in their designs. Just say'n.
Again, I'm not knocking passives. They're not for everyone and they're not for me.
First SF Line 1 about a 12-13 years ago; I sold it which fact I came to regret. I bought another a couple of years ago from another Inmate; I soon had it restored/upgraded to "SE+" status by Parts ConneXion.
I'm very please. It's very close in detail/resolution to a good passive; most recently I used a Schiit Freya+ in Passive mode serving as a comparison. But the Line 1 adds just a light touch of tube warmth and smoothness.
I tried several different tubes in the power section only. I prefer Genelex Gold Lion for an excellent balance of resolution vs. tube effects.
Dmitri Shostakovich
I owned it for several years. It's a great preamp.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
The only complaint I have read about it concerned resolution compared to the Placette.
Looks very nice for the money if one likes 'passive' preamps. I think there is some system tuning involved to be satisfied with a passive preamp.
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