Does remote control degrade the sound of tube preamps?

It’s my understanding the incito s from aires cerat does not offer standby functionality. So it’s not a fully functional remote. I believe the Power switche is on the back. very disappointing way to design something. (@emergingsoul)

This requires the unit to be always on, and shut down partially with remote. This is not the way Aries Cerat does things.

Very sad as it’s probably a really great preamp

Indeed, it is not nothing short but stellar.

Therefore a last CORRECTION as an aside, before we get back to @chungjh ’s initial question.

Aries Cerat preamplifiers (including Incito & Incito S) provide control over the folllowing points:

• volume control (stepped attenuator)
• balance control
• mute control
• input switch control
• display control
• standby control // ERRATUM

(Interestingly, there are even 2 versions of that preamp: low gain or high gain. This is purposeful, as with the typical (and constant) high gain of modern power amplifiers today (+maybe good/high efficiency speakers), it can become difficult to play at very low levels late at night, when the kids or the spouse are sleeping, or if the user lives in a block of apartments in town, with neighbors. For the sake of adaptability, the high-gain version can also be provided with an optional -6dB switch (at the back ;-) - not a big issue as this is a configuration you do just once, given the constant gain of your power amplifier)

orfeo_monteverdi

orfeo, you made a comment below that seems to suggest you can shut down partially with remote. Is this true? Once you turn it on it's at full power and you leave it on, is this what aries cerat really recommends??

“This requires the unit to be always on, and shut down partially with remote. This is not the way Aries Cerat does things”

How much power is being used by this when it is left on?? This seems incredibly wasteful. So should I leave all my Amps on too?

@jumia ,

[please forgive my poor English]

Sorry if my post was not clear. I cannot edit it anymore. What I meant is:

Generally speaking, a standby mode leaves the unit always on, and shuts it down partially with remote.

Aries Cerat does NOT want its gear to endure such constraints, especially as they use tubes. Therefore, Aries Cerat does NOT provide any standby mode.

So, the remote of Aries Cerat preamplifiers controls the following functions:

• volume control (stepped attenuator)
• balance control
• mute control
• input switch control
• display control
• standby !!

I hope this clarifies.

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IF a standby via the remote control is absolutely mandatory for practical reasons, THEN I can’t help but mentioning the very good NuPrime AMG-PRA that I own in a second system (see details in the Toggle Details button on that page). Class A, genuinely balanced, the number of inputs is limited though (1XLR, 3 RCAs). Also provides a phase inverter, but only by a switch on the front fascia (not via remote).

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Sorry for the thread drift.

looks just like a primaluna preamp remote. 

There is nothing that makes remote controlled volume control inferior in sound quality.  If it is implemented with a motorized potentiometer, the quality is entirely dependent on the quality of the potentiometer, not on the motor whose only job is to twist the shaft just as your hand would also do.  Even if your volume control is a rotary step attenuator, it is possible to physically move the dial under motor control (Ayre does this).  Many very good attenuators are ladder step attenuators that are switched by relays, and the relays are always remote controllable.

It is so important to get volume set just right to get optimum sound quality and satisfaction, and that can only be done practically by remote control as you sit in the sweet spot and instantaneously hear the result.  Remote control of volume is pretty much an essential feature, not merely a convenience.  Without it, one tends to just live with something close to the right volume instead of actually determining what is the right volume.

And they look cool when the knobs move.
It is pretty slick (IME).

I had never seen one until I got a used preamp with this sort of remote, and I like it conceptually and also in action.