[galyons]

.....he's actually listened to it?

My goodness.

Although not a strict requirement, occasionally it would be nice! 

Cheers,
Geary

[*Scotty*]

If we are discussing subjective impressions of a pot or other device it is kind of hard to offer a valid firsthand impression when you haven't had one related to the device under discussion, n'est-ce pa. A discussion of the technical merits, on the other hand is certainly open to anyone.
Scotty

[Early B.]

Why is it always (in audio especially) that folks can't comment on topics without firsthand experience?

I've never been in Congress, but I can't offer an opinion on the job my Congressman is doing?

We can't learn something useful from a poster about Device X unless it's been in his system and he's actually listened to it?

My goodness.

Dave.

Would you value someone's opinion if they listed the reasons your favorite amp probably doesn't sound very good based solely on specs and what they've read in forums and never heard it? Kinda silly, huh?

[Davey]

Somehow I think that even if someone listened to your favorite amp and didn't like it, his opinion would not be as valued as a persons who did like it. 

Anyways, this is getting silly now.  For the record, I actually have listened to an LDR-based volume control.....but not a buffered one like the Warpspeed.  I didn't like the sound of it because I thought it was adding a sound of its own.

If we could agree that the job of a volume control is to only attenuate, and do so in as neutral a way as possible then we might have a decent baseline.  However, I don't even think there would be a consensus on that. 

Cheers,

Dave.

[Early B.]

If we could agree that the job of a volume control is to only attenuate, and do so in as neutral a way as possible then we might have a decent baseline.  However, I don't even think there would be a consensus on that. 

You're right -- we'd have a difficult time getting consensus on that.    The problem is -- most of us don't know what our systems sound like straight from the source to the amp, which leaves us without a baseline for determining just how good (or bad) a particular attenuator or preamp sounds. We need an attenuator to hear just how "neutral" our systems are (or not). So the term, "neutral" is not very meaningful.

I suppose it's safe to say that the sound quality varies among types and brands of volume controls, and it's important to experiment with different types to determine what works best for you.

[DaveC113]

Why is it always (in audio especially) that folks can't comment on topics without firsthand experience?

I've never been in Congress, but I can't offer an opinion on the job my Congressman is doing?

We can't learn something useful from a poster about Device X unless it's been in his system and he's actually listened to it?

My goodness.

Dave.

I agree...

6 out of 7 things on my list of why I didn't attempt to use a LDR attenuator in my preamp have nothing to do with assumptions about it's sound quality.

I highly value subjective experiences of those lucky/motivated enough to have personally performed A/B trials, but there's a lot more to attenuation, and discussion of technical merit and implementation are relevant as to the discussion as well.

[lonewolfny42]

Anyways, this is getting silly now.

I agree....LOCKED