Sounds like I've unwittingly stirred up an old controversy! For my first decent system I don't think I should be too controversial so I'll probably just go Saga and see how it sounds passive vs active.
Passive preamp to a power amp?
I was reading reviews on the Schiit Saga and people were having a hard time differentiating between active and passive mode. In that case, why not just get the Schiit Sys passive and save 300 dollars?
I'm sure I'm missing something fundamental here.
p.s. Sorry for the deluge of newbie questions. I hope others have the same questions at some point and benefit.
I'm sure I'm missing something fundamental here.
p.s. Sorry for the deluge of newbie questions. I hope others have the same questions at some point and benefit.
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stuff_jones OP Yes, you’ll bring out diehard active pre supporters hanging onto their mega $KKK active preamps, that in most cases can get whooped by passives at a fraction of their cost. The slightest mention that you have an interest in going for a passive pre or even going direct source to amp, will bring out the hysteria in that lot, bought on by the cost they have invested in their preamps that are slowly becoming extinct. For my first decent system I don’t think I should be too controversial so I’ll probably just go Saga and see how it sounds passive vs active.For not much more, I think the Freya has a better relay controlled volume control and it has many more options, passive, tube or solid state outputs 4 or 5 single ended or balanced inputs, remote, it’s got the lot, and with quality in all of it’s active circuitry, the designer Mike Moffat’s no slouch, he made Theta Audio one of the best. http://www.schiit.com/products/freya Cheers George |
"...will bring out the hysteria in that lot, bought on by the cost they have invested in their preamps that are slowly becoming extinct." No hysteria at all just personal experience and reading the experience from folks when the same question is asked over and over, and input from some people with personal interest in mind. My input was based on my own experience running Node2 through Sys to my amp(s). I would have been delighted if it worked for me but it only took me one day to go back and put my (active) preamp back in the system. I'm sure there are folks whose total system synergy, including the cables, makes a passive preamp work in their favor thus my suggestion to the OP to try it in his/her system and not pay much attention to other's experience or input. A quick search will pull up previous discussions on the topic with input from some (real) experts who may not want to repeat their comments again. |
@kalali+ 1 I’ve been there and done that and didn’t like it. Tried 2 passives and found exactly that, lacked bass drive lacked dynamics just more boring sounding. And I didn’t receive any transparency games either.Although I do have one EL 84 amplifier with extremely high gain that a passive seems to work well with. But that’s not in the most transparent system anyway so it’s hard to tell if the passive is actually better or not.But definitely have at it and give it a shot for yourself. |
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