How much do I need to spend to get a preamp that sounds better than no preamp?

As you can see, I’ve highlighted in red from input to output, if the volume is kept below 3 o’clock it is totally passive and the signal only runs through the source selector and the switched resistor ladder volume control. https://ibb.co/j8uwJn


Nelson is right when he said:
"The only component in the signal path is wire and switch contacts. At positions below 3 o’clock, the volume control functions as a precision passive attenuator using discrete resistor ladders."

"Above 3 o’clock, active gain is ADDED to the output signal in 2 decibel increments, for a maximum of 10 dB,As a result, you suffer the effects of active circuitry only when additional gain is necessary."

If anyone want to get one of these Pass Labs masterpieces that he loves himself, good luck as they are very rare and if they do come up used go for quite a bit of money.

Cheers George

An interesting circuit- the output of the follower drives the top of the control; its output (running wide open gain) is thus mixed with the incoming signal.

While Nelson's comments are essentially true, they are not the whole story by any means. One weakness of this circuit is the extremely low impedance the source must drive, which in this case is less than 2000 ohms if the schematic George linked is correct. Most sources can't drive such a load at all.

Believe Nelson Pass, his creds far outweigh anyones here.

I believe he says below the input impedance is 20kohm, and states it in the specs, also 99% of sources will drive that, just some silly (pitiful as he says) dac’s ect that have high output impedance, tube buffer stages may not.

Pass Quote:
" Input impedance, the Aleph L is a nominal 20 Kohms. From the standpoint of input impedance, I can only say that it is a very pitiful source that cannot come up with the 100 micro-amps of current needed to drive this input."

Cheers George