Popular opinion suggests a linestage should do little other than provide source switching and volume control. It should add/subtract nothing sonically, and just be a transparent conduit between a source and amplifier. That specification may or may not suit your system. If it does, then a Wyred 4 Sound STP SE with level 2 upgrade is the closest thing I’ve come across to achieving those goals. It isn’t very sexy, but boy does it sound like nothing. |
these days, with very pure sounding dacs using built in volume controls, it is very easy to test and hear the effect of a linestage interceding between source and power amp there is no linestage, tube or ss, active or passive, that sounds like nothing - there is always a change, a difference just like there is a difference if one changes the interconnects it is never the same, one just needs to decide if the change is positive or negative for oneself |
@jjss49 - so true, and even adding one of the best implementations of a DAC volume control can change the sound of the DAC, as I learned when I owned both the Metrum Pavane (no VC) and their Adagio (basically the same DAC with VC) |
i hear you... volume control implementation is quite an art in and to itself i had the sonnet morpheus, which had a volume control, supposedly a later gen adagio in a smaller enclosure re the pavane vs adagio, it could be the volume control, or one has to wonder if it might be even unit to unit variations, i remember at one point i had two schiit yggy's, same spec, same gen, and one sounded noticeably warmer than other... go figure! one can drive oneself kinda crazy if the ocd/analytical bent is indulged to a fault |
Sorry all, had to take a break as all the research was settingmy hair on fire. I read a review for the Denafrips Athena which compared it extremely favorably to the W4S stage 2. Seems that, according to 6 moons (who loves to word salad the sh*t out of everything), they are equals with the exception of their voicing and emphasis on ASD. It’s never explicitly stated but he seems to allude that the W4S emphasizes the attack of the sound where the Athena emphasizes the sustain so it’s attack is slightly rounded but with a fuller sound. I have to admit that a fuller sound and unity gain/no gain is really peaking my interest. the biggest knock, in my eyes, with the Sachs, Rogue, Supratek, etc is the amount of gain. My current has 18, my amp 30 and I’m driving 99db speakers (with 12db attenuators in line). Besides being hard in the tubes I feel like, and correct me if my observation is not as cut and dry as I perceive it, the gain exposes ANY noise a tube makes especially once a few hundred hours are on it. So it makes thing frustrating. When I flick it on I dread it popping on and there will be scratching/static/ etc.
Lately my current one has been flawless. And it sounds great. Admittedly the whole tube thing has just frustrated me. |
