[pubul57]

Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the passive PiaB with the Active C4? And/or or compared the C4 to other active tube linestages?

[jmudrick]

Sans preamp using Endler attenuators I have just enough gain -- usually at -8 to -12db -- with 95% of sources with my EM7-2.5 , so I'm also wondering about what additional benefit, other than input switching, if any, I'd get with the C4 in the system.

[chadh]

From my conversation with Roger the other day, it seems that the C4 is not currently in production.  So, unless you have a line on a used C4, the comparison may not be all that relevant.

Potentially of greater relevance is the "active" pot-in-a-box Roger is considering:  the pot-in-a-box with a small active gain stage.

Chad

[jmudrick]

Regardless of the C4's availability (there are sure a lot of RM5's out there) the question still stands as to what benefits an active line stage provides if you've got sufficient gain to start with. The RM5 I know is a dandy phono stage, certainly an improvement I imagine over my Cambridge 640p. But will my line sources (primarily my music server) see any benefit from swapping my attenuators for an  RM5, or active pot, C4...)?