I checked out their site and was very intrigued by their amps and their pres. Regarding the latter, I found this very interesting. Anyone hear of this approach?
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Why do the Preamplifiers have both a gain and a volume control? Aren't they the same thing?
Preamps vary in signal gain (active gain circuit) from 0dB to about 12dB max. This is because different source-amp combinations can require different amounts of gain to reach their full volume potentials. There are no standard gain specifications.
IRD LLCs allow you to select the right amount of active gain for your exact system combo. By selecting the least amount of gain you need you optimize your systems performance and keep the systems noise at a lower level.
The volume control (passive attenuation device) allows "all of the signal" or only "part of the signal" to pass on through to the amplifier. It has 24 attenuation positions, mostly small high resolution 1.5dB steps. Our volume control's small 1.5dB steps allow for precise and subtle room SPL control over a very wide range, a very desirable feature.
We could have used a high fixed gain (at the expense of increased system noise) and allowed the VC to attenuate the signal to the correct level (at the expense of volume resolution, i.e. lost VC positions) but we do like our low noise, wide range, high volume resolution solution much better.
You may have used gear in the past where the systems volume is up full blast by the VCs 9 o'clock or twelve o'clock position, this is a very good example of too much gain and not enough volume control resolution. We would consider this type of system non-optimized and poorly matched, most likely it would not produce the systems optimum performance.
