[quote author=chrisby link=1061610565&/0#9 date=1061703646]
Brad: with all due respect, you've posted links to a couple of very high quality TVC ( the prices of either I've seen are higher than a single Select) . No doubt there are more modestly priced TVC or other passive controls (including kits and DIY designs) on the market or internet.
May we disagree on the merits of passives - I've heard only about 3, and found all of them lacking some ineffable quality.
That's just my personal experience.
[/quote]
Chris,
I think many people have pingeon holed
all passive pre's together which is not accurate IMO - either design/technical wise or sound quality wise (from the reviews I have read). I don't think you can say that it's a given that a tranformer based passive volume control would sound anything like the "normal" resistive ones. They work using COMPLETELY different principles. I have not yet ready ANY review that describes a TVC based pre's as lacking dynamics - which is quite common with resistive (stepped attenuator) passive pre's.
I'm not saying that they sound good, or better than a well designed tubed pre, just that it merits looking into, especially from the reports I have seen. For exaple I saw one report from a guy saying that he like the Antique Sound Labs TVC passive unit better than ANY preamp he has ever used, and he listened to allot of "high-end" units.
And there is NO DOUBT that the stepped attenuators' resistors as well as output coupling capacitors, found even in the best preamps (like my ZTPRE
), add their own signature (coloration?) to the sound. Of course, a TVC probably also has it's own signature as any transformer does, but it remains to be seen to what extent and how good it *may* be.
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