audio-talk

Bruce Rozenblit has just released a new preamp kit, the Slider.

I thought I would mention it because it has a novel variable gain feature. That's variable gain, not variable attenuation (it has a conventional volume control too), -3dB to +20dB.

https://www.transcendentsound.com/slider.html

It occurred to me that variable gain might be quite neat in a MoFo front end context.

Oh, it has a built in phono stage too.

The artical is distorted on my phone so could not read it all but I've built a variable gain stage with the pot on the cathode, it worked well as i remember.

Abut half of the distortion spike at 1 kHz is residual from the signal generator. This measures about 0.2%.

Well he should get a better generator then.

Hi, checking in on this thread to see if anyone has built Rozenblit' Transcendent Sound, the Slider preamp?
Thinking of getting a Transcendent preamp kit and looking at the Slider vs the Masterpiece. Totally different designs, variable gain with no feedback on the Slider seems like a nice feature but I'm wondering about one vs the other in terms of sound? I've read some favorable opinions on the Masterpiece but can't find much on the Slider?

Hello - I have built most of the TS kits…and while I’m no audiophile, I like music…all are enjoyable kits.

Masterpiece [non-inverting - 3 active stages] has the best channel separation and projects the largest stage/image.

The Slider [inverting - 2 active stages] has a very clean sound and highlights vocals extremely well…sometimes too well (I don’t care for the phono stage compared to the legacy circuit). I find almost zero use for adjustable gain vs volume.

The Fixer [inverting - 3 active stages] is my wife’s favorite as its very musical, and has better adjustments for room and listening volume.

Hello Carson - thanks for posting your impressions, very helpful. It's great that you built 3 of the Transcendent Sound preamps and can compare them!

A few months ago I went ahead and bought the Masterpiece kit...mostly because it got a lot of attention on the various forums when it first came out and seemed like it was pretty well received. And, especially on the audio-talk forum, some members were coming up with very interesting modifications. So I decided to give it a go.

I am just now getting around to building it...newish to kit building so we will see how it goes...recently finished the Transcendent Sound Bruiser and am very happy with it!