I have a Khozmo passive pre amp and it's fantastic! I've never thought of passives as anything but dead accurate - that "dynamism" from active pre amps of which you speak is unnatural "glare" and "mud" - that "prettiness" and soundstage you can hear is just the music coming through unaltered! If you want that so-called impact you seem to be lacking, get a more powerful power amp, more efficient speakers, or active subwoofers. Speaking of my own experiences with passive (and active) pre amps, I have yet to hear a better sounding active pre amp than the simplest of passives with an equivalent volume control. As always, give them a try with music you like and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

I considered the Khozmo before getting the Hattor The Big, which is another brand owned by Arek. Quality build, open sound, dead quiet. Choice of the stepped attenuator resistor as well as the impedance value are vital. You wish to ensure the Zin of the downstream gear is at least 10x more then the passive preamp Zout. Agree on sounding 'flat' vs an active preamp but the 'dynamics' might not be inheritedly recorded but boosted by the active circuitry. A buffer could be added to the passive preamp and play around. I tried both and prefer the unbuffered sound. Whilst engaging the buffer gives more volume and punch, turing it off allows the sound to be more laid back, natural and open, with depth and width.

Great review. Really looking forward to the Nilai review.

Nice review! I've got their Takman version attenuator on my 6SN7 pre and it's great. Also just picked up a Slagle AVC passive and it's incredible. Amazing clarity, better dynamics, and even a little gain. Awesome value for a little DIY work.

Being aware of the impedance of your power amp and what overall load you are presenting to the source is a factor which might effect things - Hypex is brilliant here with a very high input impedance. There are some source components that specify a 10k load as maximum and this could easily be 'exceeded'(as in less) with some passive/power combos...

@alphaniner3770

7 ай бұрын

Also worth mentioning is that passive preamps should be connected to the source and power amp with short interconnects.

Excellent review. I've never tried a passive preamp. Ive tried many different active ones and boy do they make a difference in the sound presentation, would love to try a passive one.

How cool. Still loving my Khozmo pre and my Hattor active tube stage thanks to Arek.

@a3marketing991

28 күн бұрын

Do you lose any bass impact using the Khozmo passive?

I got the Hattor big dual mono AMRG with newclassD output stage - like it very much lots of dynamics and almost the same amount of detail as passive mode. But my 4B SST power amp is probably not a good match for the passive mode.

Here's a dilemma question... I run monoblock tube amps from the early 90's, serviced, and raved about in stereophile magazine at the time. I run Vandersteen 2CE Sig II's, 30th anniversary speakers, mogami speaker cables, and mogami interconnects, with some silver... in short, good solid, mid-tier system. But I never heard what they were writing about in regards to these amps, until I added a passive preamp. I'm 64, started streaming a year ago, but it sounded somewhat thin, 2 dimensional. As a test, I recently added the little SMSL SU-1 dac, my 1st dac. It gave shape and dimensionality, does not compete with vinyl, but nothing is lost to cd. After reading about and seeing this vid, as proof of concept, I added a used Schiit Sys passive preamp. We hear the phrase, the vail has been lifted, yup!... I now hear what the reviewers were writing about my amps; it blew me away. And that little dac now sounds better than cd's when streaming. My Dad was a musician, and 3/4's of or conversations revolved around music. After his passing, I lost interest. With the passive pre added to the chain, I've got this system on all the time. (Schiit Sys output inpedance 5K Ohms, amp input inpedance over 320K Ohms) So here's the dilemma, the upgrade question... If I could only do one of two things, the little dac hinted at what a dac can do. The little preamp gave insight as to how good the sound can be. Being ballpark similar in price, a Denafrips Aries II 12th, or a Khozmo Passive preamp. The detail, placement, depth and width of soundstage, or the effortless presentation of sound? What is the obvious upgrade to do?

Thank you for this interesting review of an interesting product. I currently take the output of my Auralic G1 directly into my power amp (Naim 250DR), but I've often wandered as to whether I'd get better results with a preamp. I don't really wish to sacrifice the convenience of Roon volume control, but I'm still curious if I could get an improvement for a modest cost. I will upgrade to a G3 one day, and I am aware of how much effort that design goes to in order to have a great preamp output. In the meantime, I'd love to try a few options. Do you think there is any millage in this?

If you want more dynamics you could have ordered the Preamp with an active stage which you can switch in or out of the signal path.

Great review! I had my eye on this Khozmo beauties, so this review was very informative indeed. Did you already review the Hypex Nilai DIY Stereo Amplifier?

@SmallRoomAudio

10 ай бұрын

Thank you 🙏 😃 The Nilai is coming - lots of people want that one, should be in October. 👍

I got one it sounds very transparent, massive upgrade over the pot on my power amp. Isn't the power supply a bit bulky for a 5v?

Everything alright with you and the family? Haven't seen a new video from you in 3+ months. Just taking a break or retiring this channel? Hope all is well. Happy New Year! Cheers.

@SmallRoomAudio

6 ай бұрын

Thank you for asking, that’s very kind! Definitely not retiring the channel, but life is quite hectic at the moment which is why there’s no new content. My little boy is visually impaired so we have to get him more support and I’m in the middle of changing jobs. KZread pays £40 a month, so sadly not paying the bills!

@yippie6862

6 ай бұрын

@@SmallRoomAudio Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you're keeping this channel active. Best wishes for your boy and I hope you have smooth transition into your new job.

do the knobs have a finite range of motion or do they spin freely

I ordered the mono block Khozmo NC250 I have no idea how they sound I’m hoping it would be a good combination with the eversolo master edition as a pre-amp there’s no reviews on their amps I hope it’s not gonna be a huge loss

Hey haven’t seen anything from your channel for a while, have you stopped making videos?

@SmallRoomAudio

16 күн бұрын

On an extended break for now. Fatherhood and a new job leaves me with no time for HiFi. To do the reviews properly you need to dedicate time to a lot of listening and each video takes anywhere from 6-10hrs to film, edit and post. It’s a shame, but hoping to come back to the reviewer fold at some point in the future! Thanks for watching though, it’s very much appreciated 😊🎵🔊

Great review. No fluff, just facts. 👍👍 I am keen on the Khozmo preamp but can’t find a good review on it. Now I have. TQ! The Freya+ did not last long with me. Even with expensive NOS tubes, it was just meh sounding. But great value for money.

Nice review! Do you need mono blocks for that mono dual preamp? Can I use it with a normal stereo power amplifier?

@SmallRoomAudio

6 ай бұрын

Thank you 🙏 😃 You can use it with a normal stereo power amplifier, the dual volume just allows you to balance each channel independently 👍

@memania-

6 ай бұрын

Thats a nice feature, I like playing with the balance to get a good center image, dual volume sounds even better to me, thanks!@@SmallRoomAudio

Small room audio do you buy much second hand? Now I’m learning more about hifi equipment I’m feeling more confident to. I just bought some Dynaudio contour 1.1s and they are fantastic. I feel less confident about electronics and amplifiers though

@SmallRoomAudio

5 ай бұрын

Yes I buy lots of HiFi on eBay! The buyer protection is pretty good, so if the electronics die in the first 30 days you are covered for a refund. However, watch out for deals that are too good to be true, lots of horror stories about fraud. I always keep the transactions within paypal and eBay and don’t do cash in hand. If you buy speakers make sure you inspect them closely when they arrived and give them a good bass work out to spot any rattles! 👍

@alexg4284

5 ай бұрын

@SmallRoomAudio thanks!

Just got a Schiit Saga S, have you compared it to this?

My pre-amp has a Direct Bypass switch, which turns off the pre-amplification and makes it passive and I really don’t understand this feature because the volume bearly does anything and very low volume on my amp and my speakers when I turn the volume knob… seems pointless…

Khozmo? I'm thinking Kramer... ;-)

What’s the signal strength straight from the source? I’m thinking there’s some kind of standard. XLR and rca probably have different signal strength.

@SmallRoomAudio

10 ай бұрын

Yes absolutely, ‘most of the time’ RCA is 2v whilst XLR is 4v.

@epi2045

10 ай бұрын

@@SmallRoomAudio Is it better that the source has balanced XLR since there’s more voltage to work with?

Hi, when Hypex Nilai Review? thanks

@SmallRoomAudio

7 ай бұрын

Loads going on at home so I’ve been a bit rubbish with putting content out recently! Hoping to get some time to record my thoughts over Christmas. It’s an excellent class D power amplifier, I prefer it to purifi in standard form, but would pick the M23 against the stock Nilai units (although it’s very close and Nilai is by far the better value for money!)

I sold my $3,500 preamp after trying a passive preamp.

Have the dual mono Hattor version with active gain stage but will upgrade to their tube stage soon

I think that should be labeled as a signal distributor more so than a pre-amplifier.

Sad that s channel ceased to produce

@SmallRoomAudio

4 ай бұрын

I’ll be back one day, just have real life to contend with. Each video takes 6-20 hours to plan, record, edit and upload. With a small child and a new job there isn’t any time for KZread at the moment. It earns me on average $20 per video, so that’s about $1 an hour for my time.

@iborrada

4 ай бұрын

@@SmallRoomAudio thanks man, hope to see you post again when you get some space!

@512bb

2 ай бұрын

That/s good to hear, I enjoy your video's a great deal but nothing is more important than your family, especially kids. I wish you all the best my friend!@@SmallRoomAudio

@SmallRoomAudio

2 ай бұрын

Thank you 🙏

Why does it look so much like a Hattor?

@SmallRoomAudio

10 ай бұрын

It’s the same company!

3 months since last video…..😮

@SmallRoomAudio

6 ай бұрын

Real life has rather taken over. Hopefully have some more coming soon! 😊

Anyone else thinking........... a. Bryston 2.5B3 power with Magnapan LRS + or b. NAD M23 power with JBL 4429? Reggae, Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊

@TriAmpHiFi

10 ай бұрын

kind of a preamp surf-n-turf type deal.

6 months since last video 😅

@SmallRoomAudio

3 ай бұрын

Yup - life and a small child, no time for HiFi at the moment. I’ll be back as the Terminator says!

@gdwlaw5549

3 ай бұрын

@@SmallRoomAudio I might move into a big room…:-)

@gdwlaw5549

3 ай бұрын

@@SmallRoomAudio congratulations

The sonic difference between types of resistors are negligible in terms of tonal characteristics and nowhere near of capacitors influence on sound. Mainly on thermal noise and behavior and longevity. In the end passive preamplifier act like a wire and doesn't exibit any sonic character of it's own, like a piece of wire. Big money for little effect! I used attenuator used in recording studios manufacturer by palmer mohicon (palmer-Germany) I bet you will hear no difference between them although left-right gain/balance might not be as precise . And it also have balanced/unbalanced inputs/outputs. This product for me is very gimmicky and you can do the same job at a fraction of the price at equivalent quality. What is good enough for studios is good enough for me.

@Andrew-rc3vh

10 ай бұрын

I was just looking into this, and according to the Hi-Fi people, the cause of colouration in the sound is vibration in resistors.

@kobush18

10 ай бұрын

@@Andrew-rc3vh pure nonsense, those people may write electronics from scratch,you don't believe it don't you , there is no other field with such amount of bs like in audiophile , "Golden ears" rules. Tomorrow they will say white devices sound better than black ones and some people will believe it. Resistors are not like capacitors,and their influence on the end sound is marginal , better spend big dollars/pounds elsewhere or to buy simple cheap passive preamp

@alphaniner3770

7 ай бұрын

Discussion over the sonic characteristics of resistors is basically the same as the cable debate - that will never come to a conclusion (and I still don't get why people on both sides get so fired up). I bought a Khozmo because (1) it appears to be a unit that will last basically forever, (2) I could have it modified to fit my system requirements perfectly - it has a switchable out to a power amp or a headphone amp, and (3) I don't think that the price is outrageous. Your solution is perfectly fine too.

@Andrew-rc3vh

7 ай бұрын

@@alphaniner3770 I just pulled up a graph of strain vs resistance for carbon film in the scientific literature. As expected there is a clear relationship (linear in fact). A vibration is like a modulation of the resistance, so if that is used to set the gain then you have your distortion.

@alphaniner3770

7 ай бұрын

​@@Andrew-rc3vhmy reaction was aimed at the one that made the initial comment here - stating that a Khozmo is a waste of money. I certainly don't have the technical knowledge or experience to disagree with the distortion caused by carbon film resistors you mention. I actually forgot what resistors (carbon or not) are in my Khozmo - to be honest I don't really care, until I perhaps someday need a new preamp. All I am certain of, that it sounds really, really transparent and unrestricted, and that is exactly it's purpose :o)

Pity he gave up with this channel….i still have a small room 😅

@SmallRoomAudio

5 ай бұрын

Haven’t given up, just got life stuff that needs doing!

@gdwlaw5549

5 ай бұрын

@@SmallRoomAudio I was sure you’d reply. Look forward to seeing more reviews one day. Take care.

Makes no sense. Sound like passive crossover in speakers.

XLR without differential circuit , or no transformers ??????????? What a joke !

@ekjellgren

9 ай бұрын

Could you expand on that please?

@krzysztoffilipak6170

7 ай бұрын

Zauważ, że na kanał przypadają dwie drabinki rezystorowe. Dla zbalansowanego sygnału + i -. Przedwzmacniacz jest zbalansowany, a wyjścia RCA są oznaczone "+". Nie jest potrzebna symetryzacja. Note that there are two resistor ladders per channel. For balanced + and - signal. The preamplifier is balanced and the RCA outputs are taken with "+". No symmetrization is needed.