Hello folks
Just thought i would mention a new pre amp i just purchased. An Audio Zone T1 transformer volume pre amp.
Yup its a passive. The difference between a normal passive and this type is are the two transformers used to complete the circuit between the output of the Source and amp. Inbetween the two transformers sits a very fine volume control. The idea of two transformers allows impedance matching from the volume into the amp. The two transformers also create an isolation effect between the source and amp. There is no connection between source and amp which means no ground loops. This pre amp is completely silent there is literally no noise out of my speakers. And that says a lot about my 14B being drop dead quiet also.
I bought this because i wanted to get as much resolution out my system with as little cash as possible. This does it. It also jumps up prat considerably.
So whats the drawback. Well its dry. But for me i like that. I am not and never have been into smoothing over and blossoming the sound stage. I have spent many hours with preamps that have and i have always been on a path of cabling and tweaks that try to control the noise and distortion put out by active pre's. This isn't a dis at all in fact i still love what an active line brings in terms of sparkle and soothing playback. But i can guarantee unless you spend in the thousands (10k+)you will not get the resolution or prat that this pre can put out and keep the sparkle. Since i am using a 240v dual phase Torus i have my BDP/BDP into the Torus and my 14B into the wall for complete isolation which adds to the noise floor at around NIL. Its really nice.
Another downside is unless you have a really really decent source, forget it. You are going to get everything including all the nasties that a frontend can deliver. Its been a challenge just getting my BDP/bda recabled and resituated on my platform. Trying different cabling and postioning platforms was a must. Its not a plug and play device so unless you are into the affects of cables and have no problem with changing out things then this could sound pretty harsh and easily dismissed as a fully resolving but harsh sounding piece of gear. Its almost worth starting out with regular generic PCs and move up from there since many power cables just bump up the response and it just ends up amplifying stuff you may not like interms of treble.
I have seen gear like this also used infront of high performance dacs with volume controls. By using the volume control on the dac and setting the volume on this pre to full it allows the use of the impedance and isolation characteristics of this pre and at full volume it will take on the active output of the dac. Its kinda best of both worlds in that sense.
It will challenge what you're notions of what good hi fi is. You could easily dismiss it as too dry but when you have no noise and distortion by the preamp it isn't what you might expect. It is listenable and non fatiguing. So much that it gives a good handle of what instrument do sound like and i personally believe its a step in the right direction when compared to live. But thats me and ymmv.
http://www.audio-zone.ca/pre-T1.html