Nope, that's not going to happen chez moi, the Topping D70 is staying put for a long time I hope!

I will certainly look out for an AS passive, which are said to be of superior quality ...

Hi Jules,

I'm sure the amp is great. David Heaton is a great guy and smart with design. In terms of the passive I guess you're referring the AS Passion. I had one for years. It's a shunt type switched attenuator. The shunt resister was typically a Vishay either 7k5 or 15k. The value of this resistor made a huge tonal difference. The 7k5 being much fuller in the bass...but you lost some of the mega resolution of the 15k. I was forever swapping between resistors.

Thanks Clive, that's interesting.

I was looking at the (remote controlled) Passion Ultimate - 10k Vishay I believe .. 

Cheers M.

Only thing I have had to turn off is Audio Resampling.

Can't find an HDMI option anywhere ...

OMG - what a day makes!

So after a quick email exchange with AS I can confirm that this power amp actually needs a full 90 mins to achieve optimum warm-up, and what a difference this is as the sound takes a huge leap in overall resolution. The midband is altogether a different beast and opens up completely in terms of clarity and crispness; electric guitars now have a wonderfully authentic and crunchy sound to them. Drums kick harder and bass is better defined. Sound stage is absolutely massive, it’s a totally immersive experience.

In short, it rocks - I’m very happy indeed.

Today’s test playlist -

So glad that this has worked out for you Jules

LOL.

I see the potential for a new hit Netflix series 

" Tony & Jerry: the Passive Police.
Let's get Active "

No letting on our secret please, they really do not need to know

Here's a story for yer!


Not so long ago an audio reviewer acquired a very well know passive pre amplifier (which will not be named) and proudly 'dropped in with' one afternoon to show how good it was.

Bear in a mind the top of the line  music first was demonstrated to myself by a then rep at the time, it struggled to give an £2K active a hard time in the majority of areas, although it was clearly i better in two, though the cost at that point was £8K.


Back to reviewer chappie, plumbs it the system of the day waiting for my jaw to hit the floor, instead one channel was intermittent, the volume knob was shall we say intermittent as well, I had a quick look inside this new item and what do you know two signal wires had come adrift from the piss poor hand soldered joints.

Now I know that particular unit went back to the manufacturers at least three times for rectification work in 4 months.

We have had at least four of these units pass though this doors in the last couple of years all of which sell on the name without question, performance wise not so great. About on par with a respectable £1.5K pre amplifier.

In all my time with audio in the last 30 years I have only ever listened to one passive pre amp that really cut the mustard and that was a very special Japanese device built as a bespoke order for a long standing school friend who now lives in Japan it was rather good, no remote either (mind you their rooms are not particularly large!) You do not wish to know the cost, but every aspect of outside interference and inside interference was throughly addressed and then some.

Will ask the owner if he wishes to let me have some images to share with you guys. However that is the one and only time I will coincide to a passive pre, would still have an active but it is rather good.

Not at all, it's all good stuff!

Maybe Tony can design an active destroying passive - "Fluxed in Time Reference Volume Control" (known as the F.I.T. RVC  ) 

Now there's a challenge ...