Home Computer Audio Asylum

Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Computer Audio Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Did you control for gain and polarity?

"I do not like the haze preamps impart on the music. I prefer the openness of a passive.

Did you control for constant gain when you compared actives and passives? For a valid comparison, gain has to be balanced to within 0.1 dB, which can be difficult to achieve depending on your setup. If gain controls are continuous then there is the problem of repeatability. If gain controls are discrete then there is the problem there an accurate level match may be impossible. And if extra equipment is used to deal with gain leveling then this equipment may not be transparent and thus invalidate the entire comparison.

Did you control for polarity when comparing active and passives? A passive is not going to invert polarity (except possibly a mis-wired balanced passive). Many active line stages will invert polarity. If you hear differences you may simply be hearing the difference between two ways of playing the same recording. With some recordings and speakers this can represent a significant difference, at least to some listeners. Unless you have controlled for this effect, any comparisons will be invalid. This situation is more an annoyance and PITA than a show stopper. There being only two possibilities, one can address these more or less conveniently. I used to deal with this by swapping speaker wires, and put up with the lower sonic performance of banana plugs to avoid the necessity of tools. Now I use cPlay, which has a built-in polarity switch.

Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Parts Connexion  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]