Passive Preamplifier? Enlighten me... :)

[reignofchaos]

thats correct, b1 improved sound a lot over passive pre (essence feeding the amp directly).
B1 is not a passive pre. its a pre without gain. a passive pre is without power. pot with input and output connectors and an input selector.

Essence feeding the amp directly is not a passive pre - it is digital volume control.

 

[doors666]

Essence feeding the amp directly is not a passive pre - it is digital volume control.

Not really, sound card, player software volume was always full. volume control was done with topping volume control.

 

[reignofchaos]

Not really, sound card, player software volume was always full. volume control was done with topping volume control.

Then in that case, the fault could be a very poor volume control pot in the topping which was causing loss.

 

[greenhorn]

Bought this chinese remote controlled passive preamp. The interesting thing about this is that this is not a motorized pot - It has a ladder network with relays. It's very clicky while changing volume, but works well enough. Also has 4 input selection (one input is an internal BT reciever)

 

[reachkalyan.kr]

Bought this chinese remote controlled passive preamp. The interesting thing about this is that this is not a motorized pot - It has a ladder network with relays. It's very clicky while changing volume, but works well enough. Also has 4 input selection (one input is an internal BT reciever)

View attachment 50447

I have the same model.Is it Vol-2 model?

 

[greenhorn]

I have the same model.Is it Vol-2 model?

yes. Only vol 02 are fully passive - vol 01 and 03 use IC's for volume and tone control