Every passive preamp I have tried has cut down on both dynamics/microdynamics and resolution/detail. They all tended to put a veil on the music that was not good at all.
One thing about live music is that it is dynamic. If there is one sin I cannot forgive in a component is lack of dynamics. I can forgive something sounding a little more dynamic than it should in certain areas of the frequency spectrum, but lack of dynamics is a pretty big audio sin...
I will say this Saxo, many tube preamps are not the end all in resolution by a long shot. Many solid state preamps are not either. There are not a whole lot of excellent preamps be them tube or SS made.
I must admit that I have not tried some of the state of the art passives of today. Not too many companies make passive preamps to begin with.... This should tell us something about them. Good ideas tend to be copied in the audio world. If a technology works well people will build it and refine it.
I really WANT to know what Capitole uses to regulate volume. If it's regulation is as good as Tireguy says, they should make a preamp with the same technology (maybe they do, I have not done the research).
KF
One thing about live music is that it is dynamic. If there is one sin I cannot forgive in a component is lack of dynamics. I can forgive something sounding a little more dynamic than it should in certain areas of the frequency spectrum, but lack of dynamics is a pretty big audio sin...
I will say this Saxo, many tube preamps are not the end all in resolution by a long shot. Many solid state preamps are not either. There are not a whole lot of excellent preamps be them tube or SS made.
I must admit that I have not tried some of the state of the art passives of today. Not too many companies make passive preamps to begin with.... This should tell us something about them. Good ideas tend to be copied in the audio world. If a technology works well people will build it and refine it.
I really WANT to know what Capitole uses to regulate volume. If it's regulation is as good as Tireguy says, they should make a preamp with the same technology (maybe they do, I have not done the research).
KF