Is a Schiit Passive preamp right for me?

My power amp finally arrived and the eBay cheapie I bought (line stage) is noisy as hell. I’m curremtly running a DAC and a LCR MKIII I to the preamp.

Would a Schiit Sys work in this situation? It’s a temporary solution until I can get the line stage I want later this year.

I need 2 line level inputs, 1 output and to be quiet. Oh and cheap.

 

How long is your cable run?

 

Preamp to amp is 1/2 meter is a Morrow MA3. Input cable from the Lounge is also 1/2 meter (audioquest). The line level source is a 1 meter cable (monster).

 

You *should* be fine with short cable runs, but I haven't tried it myself. Just that Schiit says it works as you intend. And if it's not to your liking, they offer a trial period, albeit with a restocking fee.

 

Thanks. I guess I’m afraid the low output of the Lounge will mean having to crank it.

 

Looks like the Lounge outputs at line level, and the Sys FAQ says you can use it with phono preamps to connect to power amps.

 

My main concern would be the relatively low output of a phono stage to which you won't be able to add gain. As an experiment, I'd connect the phono stage directly to your power amp and see how loud playback is. Carefully!

 

The output impedance of the Lounge is 50 ohm. It says “full scale output level is 7.4 Vrms”

 

The important number is the gain, which is 40dB (100 times) and the normal cartridge output, which for a typical MM is around 4mv, so 40dB gain would give you a nominal 0.4 V output from phono preamp. Look at your amp sensitivity to see how much power you will be able to get at this input level. The DAC typically has 2V output at maximum level, so digital sources generally have no problem with passive preamps, other than normal impedance matching issues between preamp and amp.

 

Thanks. The manufacturer is scarce with numbers other than 22k ohms input impedance. Many consider it a high gain amplifier. My crappy little line stage boosts 20db but playing records I don’t get the volume over the 3rd line (of 24 lines) and it’s pretty loud.

 

No affiliation to the seller, but there's one for sale in the Classifieds right now for $38. For that price, might as well just pick one up and resell it if it's not a good fit (which is what the current owner is doing, it appears.) Might want to also chat with the seller and ask about his experience with it....

 

It is two Line-ins, one line-out, and a volume control. That is all it is. It should be perfect for your needs.

 

The OP is buying it from the online seller.

EDIT: Reread, you post, this is a completely reedited post.

As long as you do not place anything between the phono cartridge and the prono preamp, it should be fine.

After the phono preamp, the signal is considered to be a line stage, which is fine route to either a preamp or a power amp.

 

Correct. The seller happened to be local so I’m going for it. Hopefully it works out.

 

Let me ask another potentially idiotic question:

How much can I expect the sound to change when I add a tube preamp? I’m looking at staying in the Odyssey realm with the Candela although many like the Ultraverve 3 and the Audible Illusions Modulus 3a.

The sound as I hear it now is a tad light in the bass and mid bass and a little bright on the high mids. The amp only has 28 hours on it so it’s got a way to go according to the manufacturer.

 

Give everything time to settle down before you do anything, your manufacturer will suggest a break in period. But, the nice thing about tube amps is that you can usually find a tube to emphasize what you like and de-emphasize what you don't. Without having looked into your suggested gear, the stock tubes tend to darken the tones. But, you can find tubes that brighten or darken to meet your need. You may want to search the forum for advice on correcting your current issues.

 

So to out a period on this thread and did anyone searching for relevant info: I got the Schiit from the seller (who was local) yesterday and sub’d it in place of the line pre. The volume on the Schiit is pretty exactly at the same position as the other so it’s no difference in that respect. It seems like the Schiit is cleaner in sound but that might just be a fluke in material as I didn’t line up specific test material for a before/after.

For the record the linestage was a TEC 753LC from eBay in the $50 range.

 

The tec 753lc is a phono pre?
TCC TC-753LC BLACK Phono Preamp with PREMIUM AC Adaptor | eBay


I don't get you at all.

 

It looks like you were plugging the Lounge, which is a phono preamp, into another phono preamp. That’s why it was noisy.

 

It has a line level in and a phono in. I’m obviously not using the phono in from the Lounge.

 

Oh, I see. The post above mine threw me off.

 

Hoping that Sys is working out for your setup! I have some experience with active pre-amps and IMO I am probably the camp that prefers the "sound" of the active stages to color the sound a little bit. Depending on the design you get some expnsive pre-amps that try to be as clean as possible ~ transformer based volume controls or light dependent resistors. On the other hand, usually older in vintage, there are tube pre-amps that let you roll the sound with tubes and capacitors in the signal path. Make no mistake each circuit you are throwing in the signal path is potential for failure/noise/distortion. The distortion part may help to mask brightness, boomy bass, or create brightness, etc. Another side benefit to the active stages is that it will accept a wide range of sources with varying impedence and spit out its own audio so that impedence mismatch is less of a problem.

The Sys is as basic as it gets and part of that cleaner or transparent sound camp, it's just a volume knob with 2 ins and 1 out and no caps in the signal. For the active monitor setup I planned to use the sys for, I wanted 1 in 2 out to go from a single RCA out DAC to the monitors and a headphone amp. While the Sys could technically do that, the volume control doesn't work as a volume control in such a configuration. I ended up swapping out my HP amp in the setup for one that has a "active" albiet decent sounding pre-amp out, an old Headroom desktop amp. We'll see if it's temporary or not.

 

It is! Oddly the volume at 9 o’ Is about the same volume as the cheapy line stage it replaced.

I’m in the camp that doesn’t care as much about fidelity as good sound. I feel like my sound is a little lean so I’m wondering if that’s relatively common for passives (seems to be somewhat).

I’m pondering the following preamps:
Odyssey Candela
ARC LS3
deHavilland Ultraverve 3
Croft Micro

I want to favor the Odyssey as it’s an Odyssey amp it will be paired with but there’s scarce reviews on it.

Thanks again!

 

It may be a little snooty and maybe even backwards thinking of me, but I recommend to pay attention to the guts of the thing and weight of the components in relation to its price with regards to audio purchases. Myself I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a pre-amp like that without an audition in my own setup or some kind of return policy.

 

I don’t disagree but since all but the Candela would be bought used, I’m on my own. All those listed have been used by others with my amp so, for them the sound was excellent. Wether or not it’s the sound I want is arguable. But I’m not in a position to act just yet. The Sys is here to fill that role for a few months while other things are accomplished.