Questions asked and answered on the manufacturer's website
But I don’t want to deal with tubes!
Then you need Saga S, the solid-state Saga. It also saves you $100.
So what’s so special about your Saga?
Lots of things. But let’s start where you probably aren’t expecting us to: in the philosophy. Yes, philosophy. Because in the past 20 years or so, audio gear has gone into full gold-plated Bentley/60’ private yacht/$120MM beach estate mode. As in, prices are completely and utterly insane. Go ahead. Look around for a remote passive preamp, and check the prices. Now add a tube stage. Oh, wait, there aren’t any of those, so check out remote controlled tube preamps.
So what’s this about it being passive or active? How does that work?
Passive preamps are great if you have short cable runs and high-impedance inputs to your power amp. On the other hand, active preamps give you the ability to run longer cables and drive low-impedance inputs on some power amps. Saga+ is both. Switch it to passive mode to bypass the tube buffer, or switch it to active mode to use the tube buffer. It’s up to you.
And this bizarre hybrid tube buffer? What’s that?
There are plenty of tube buffers out there, but ours is unique. It’s actually a hybrid push-pull tube buffer, featuring a dual triode tube and a pair of BJTs (bipolar junction transistors), with a unique transconductance-equalizing network that pairs the tube and transistor more seamlessly, and helps cancel distortion. The result is a buffer that measures insanely well—better than some solid-state stages!
But I don’t want to deal with tubes!
Then you need Saga S, the solid-state Saga. It also saves you $100.
So what’s so special about your Saga?
Lots of things. But let’s start where you probably aren’t expecting us to: in the philosophy. Yes, philosophy. Because in the past 20 years or so, audio gear has gone into full gold-plated Bentley/60’ private yacht/$120MM beach estate mode. As in, prices are completely and utterly insane. Go ahead. Look around for a remote passive preamp, and check the prices. Now add a tube stage. Oh, wait, there aren’t any of those, so check out remote controlled tube preamps.
So what’s this about it being passive or active? How does that work?
Passive preamps are great if you have short cable runs and high-impedance inputs to your power amp. On the other hand, active preamps give you the ability to run longer cables and drive low-impedance inputs on some power amps. Saga+ is both. Switch it to passive mode to bypass the tube buffer, or switch it to active mode to use the tube buffer. It’s up to you.
And this bizarre hybrid tube buffer? What’s that?
There are plenty of tube buffers out there, but ours is unique. It’s actually a hybrid push-pull tube buffer, featuring a dual triode tube and a pair of BJTs (bipolar junction transistors), with a unique transconductance-equalizing network that pairs the tube and transistor more seamlessly, and helps cancel distortion. The result is a buffer that measures insanely well—better than some solid-state stages!