A preamp for the age of loud CDs

When playing typically loud CDs, it used to be that setting the right volume was a bit frustrating. One click of the volume would make it much too loud and I would have to settle for a less than ideal volume.

So I did some browsing to look for a preamp that had finer volume adjustments and while I found a few like Conrad Johhson ET3 and Musical Fidelity M8pre, I finally settled on a nice little Jeff Rowland Capri II. This has 0.5db vs the coarser 1db adjustments from my old preamp.

Now it's easy to set a volume that I am comfortable with. And a nice bonus is a phase polarity switch which I found myself using quite often between discs. So just to share my experience with those who have the same problem as me.

 

Russ Andrews Attenuators or Auttenator cable helps but sadly a brick walled loud cd will always sound poor , thats why I avoid modern music full stop & take caution with reissues.

 

There's a thread around here about Attenuators, the best little tweak I've ever run across on these forums.

 

I would say more accurate volume control would be good in all circumstances.

It's definitely worth having remote controls.

 

The Attenuator will not improve the granularity of the volume control right? Not sure if that's what i wanted to achieve.

 

How about a tube preamp to bring out a little bloom in those sucked out mids and soften the overextended highs? Can't do anything with a brick wall, though.

 

Oddly, the first thing I thought just before I opened the thread was "Conrad Johnson"!

Uh, carry on.

 

+1

I also make sure there is absolutely no material in my entire library that would ever make me cringe - volume wise. Every album must conform or it's gone (or never purchased in the first place).

VP

 

Yes, I was deciding between the CJ and Jeff Rowland but both sounded good but I was much more impressed with the build quality of the JR. Sound wise both sounded smooth, which helps with CDs. I have used various tube equipment in the past but I don't feel I am missing much with solid state nowadays.

 

Stepped volume controls with "big" jumps at each step can be annoying. And especially more annoying with modern style mastering. I've avoided some otherwise good headphone amps because of that. Stepped attenuators with very fine steps are quite a bit more expensive. So I can understand why they don't get used as much. The alternative is to have two volume knobs with a coarse and fine stepped adjustment. Which is its own kind of different annoyance.