@noromance Is that iFi unit some sort of sound processor? Seems at odds to getting a ’pure’ sound. No?
No, not really. It’s what you might want to call a ‘tube buffer’, (a military GE JAN 5670, and I have it between my pre and amp), but really, that is doing it an injustice, as it does much more. Thus, yes, it has a tube which changes sound signatures, but with various options. Those options are actually ‘switching’ analog options, not a digital filter for the ‘SET’/standard/‘Push-Pull’ sound signatures, as example. I’m sure you can find more detailed info on the web.
it wasn’t cheap, and picked it up used when attempting to get better 2 channel sound when using my AVR as my preamp (gasp), and also try to take the ‘glare’ out of digital playback. You can actually set it up with dip switches as a preamp itself (with volume control), which I did, and by doing so realized my AVR had to get out of the 2 channel set-up…..pronto.
It’s actually a pretty cool device, but not something you would need, or others with a complete tube chain. iFi does some pretty neat engineering with their products, and are very clean and transparent when used. For me, it has a place, for the time being.
