CD player straight into amps?

>>> Dopogue
With my Raysonic CD128, my one experience running it into a passive linestage was pretty disconcerting. Sounded thin and threadbare, very much unlike the way the Raysonic should sound. <<<

Also owning the Raysonic, I got similar results when running straight through to my monos (Triode TRV-300Bs) which have their own volume control. Inserting the matching pre (Triode TRV4-SE LE) pre back brought back the texture/nuance and sounstage depth and width. YMMV.

Cheers,
Garry

Garryh, glad for the confirmation. I had brought my Raysonic to an audiophile group meeting to show eveyone just how great this unit is. All I could do was shake my head at how bad it sounded via the passive linestage, and there was no active preamp there to make it sing :-)

So now your music sounds worse.... where's the benefit in removing the pre?

There's no benefit in removing the pre with this particular CDP. That was my point. Obviously I use one (Aesthetix Calypso).

Just one point of clarification on the topic of passive preamps. There can be quite a difference between the performance of a resistor-based passive preamp and a transformer volume control (TVC) passive preamp in any given system.

Resistor-based passives require careful impedance matching, and they generally demand a short interconnect between the passive and the amp. It is possible to have source components and amplifiers with output and input impedances that are simply incompatible with a resistor-based passive approach regardless of the input impedance selected for the passive.

TVCs are generally more forgiving - especially if you are running amplifiers with low input sensitivity. The more a TVC is allowed to attenuate the input signal voltage coming in from the source component, the lower the output impedance and the greater the level of current at the TVC output. The low output impedance and the higher current allow the TVC to drive the interconnects and the amplifier more effectively.

So TVCs are at their best when they apply significant attenuation to the source component signal, and they can often drive long interconnects without any problem. Resistor-based passives are at their best when they are applying little or no attenuation, and they always require careful impedance matching and short interconnects in connecting with the amplifier.

Bad experiences with passives usually result from a mismatch or incompatibility problem in one of the areas mentioned above or from insufficient output voltage from the source as compared with the input sensitivity of the amp.