Sure, the ~2V output for CDPs is just a suggestion, not a requirement, many are higher, some much higher.
Just wanted to chime back in here. I just changed the input impedance of my Khozmo from the 24k you and I both have as ordered from Khozmo to a much lower 4.7k to better accommodate the lower input impedance of the amps I just built . I can confirm that you can substantially increase the voltage through by doing this, and so far I don’t hear any obvious downside. If you’re handy with a soldering iron it’s an inexpensive experiment.
Well, the potential downside is that your source component needs to be able to drive a 4.7k load without added distortion or low frequency rolloff. Those Amtrans AMRG resistors look interesting, just carbon film on a ceramic core, which I would normally not like very much based on past experience, but they pot them in resin inside an aluminum tube, so should damp/suppress the core vibrations. My favorite resistors are the precision wirewound type, which use resistor wire that is wound on plastic bobbins with no ceramic core, and then potted in silicone and epoxy, really sound neutral. Anyway, I think we might've already talked some about this earlier in the thread, but looks like a good upgrade. Shunt attenuators always involve that juggling act of source impedance drive capability versus series resistor value, you want the value as low as possible to avoid high frequency rolloff due to capacitance in cabling and amp, but you want it high enough to not overload the source
Hi guys, just found this interesting thread! Am interested in the Khozmo as well: have a few questions to ask! 1. What's the sound signature difference between the ladder ones and the shunt ones? Does one sound better than the other, if so, what kind of differences? 2. Have you guys compared to for example LDR preamps and what's the difference? 3. How is the soundstage like on the Khozmo? Does it collapse? Connecting my dac direct to my speakers and controlling volume via ifi zen stream app collapsed the soundstage for me...and I am still wondering if its due to straight wire/lack of gain or due to the software volume control decreasing the sound quality. I use a denafrips terminator dac (rca outputs 2.3V at 625 ohms, with cary 805 mono blocks (150k ohm input impedance). I connect it via normal copper 1.8m rca cable. Thanks so much for your kind advice! Cheers G
How was it connected before you went direct with the collapsed soundstage, did you have a preamp with analog volume control? If so, which one? How are you connecting the digital to the Terminator, which interface? Do all file resolutions (bit depth) result in the same reduced soundstage? You could do the same test of the software volume control with the preamp back in the circuit, if that is a possibility.
Khozmo 64 Step Shunt Attenuator - Stereo With Input Selector - Black/Black - Remote - AMRG + Vishay - 5K Resistance
One thing I noticed, the power supplies look like they can come in two colors, white and black (mine came black). Same thing with power cable, red or black ( mine red). If your picky on color...I'm not too much.
One could replace the tube with Schiit's Liist. Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas and California
