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No, but it can screw up timing...

The only way to get a passive high-pass filter is to put capacitance in series, or inductance in parallel, with the load impedance (in your case, the input resistance of the preamp). A simple IC would not have these reactive impedances as parasitics. It would have inductance in series and capacitance in parallel, so it would have some degree of low-pass action. Transparent cables have networks in series with them to give deliberate low-pass filtering with a corner frequency around 40 KHz. I have a friend who has listened to Transparent cables and claims the low-pass affects the treble.

However, there are a couple of ways that a simple IC can screw up the coherence between treble and bass, and give the impression of clean or muddy bass. One is if there is excessive nonlinear capacitance in the cable dielectric. Another is if the cable has acoustic resonance problems that couple specific frequencies into the connected equipment.

RF noise that is filtered and amplified by electrical resonance of an IC typically affects the midrange and treble, but it can also make certain notes seem to jump out or move around on the sound-stage. I haven't heard this affect the bass, but it could be the origin of your observation.

Finally, I've heard it said that very thin wire in the IC can cause diminished bass. I haven't heard this effect, but then I've not experimented with very thin wire either. I would not expect your Transparent cables to have very thin wire, but the filter components might give the same effect. A review available on-line also comments about some lack of bass "punch."

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