Anyone use Darkvoice 336i as preamp?

Have you tried connecting it via the headphone jack? It has much larger coupling capacitors than the preamp output RCAs.

It shouldn't be worse, but I've never had a Darkvoice which came with the RCA outputs, so I don't know if the coupling capacitors are correctly sized. The headphone and RCA outputs are electrically identical on the Darkvoice, it just has smaller capacitors for the RCA output because they don't need to be anywhere near as big.

I tried using the 336i as a preamp through both headphone and RCA outs and it sounded like garbage. I thought it was normal until I removed the amp from the chain and connected my D02 DAC straight into my receiver. WOW, what nice sound. The 336i did nothing but degrade the sound massively. I'm not sure what the deal was.

Probably since the Darkvoice only outputs 1 total watt, it didn't either have enough power to drive the receiver or whatever you ran through the receiver (speakers?).

Although I really don't know, since I've never tried using my Darkvoice as a preamp. Since it's designed to just be a dedicated headphone amp, I didn't think it would be worth the trouble.

Lack of bass = impedance mismatch I believe. It comes up with some headphones that are offered in multiple impedances that the higher impedance one has more bass. (or more so grab and hd595 and 120 ohm adapter and you will get more bass).
Since the speakers are either 8 or 4 ohms, it is highly unlikely you will be able to get strong bass out of them without an adapter, Also, careful, because of low impedance, the current draw you might putting on the amp is ridiculous (depends on the receiver).

When did people start thinking a preamp was actually powering the speakers (or even had to supply any significant power at all)?

A speaker amp presents a high impedance load to the preamp, not a low impedance one.

Also, the reason why the "impedance adapters" for certain headphones provide more bass is that it forms a voltage divider that varies with frequency (depending on the headphone's impedance at any given frequency), making it attenuate the highs more than the lows. A headphone offered from the factory in a higher impedance does not behave the same as simply taking a lower impedance version and adding some resistors to it.

I misread. >.< Also the amp is still a load for the preamp. And I am aware of how impedance matching works =]

This is sort of an old thread but I tried using my Darkvoice as a preamp last night. I hooked my CD player to the DV RCA inputs, then set the DV RCA outputs to my speaker amp's RCA inputs, then finally set the speaker amp's direct wire outputs to power the speakers. I don't know what a preamp does or what it's generally used for, but apparently the DV works just fine as a preamp, at least to my ears and through my cheap speakers. It actually helped fix the channel inbalance problem I had with the speakers (the speaker amp has channel inbalance issues at low volume, I just turned the DV volume really low and the speaker amp volume up a bit, and it balances things out). With the DV volume set so low, I wouldn't think it would have much effect on the sound itself, but it seemed to work just fine. Needless to say, I fell asleep to music playing through the speakers and awoke to the same music, what a great feeling

Any thoughts on if I should continue to use it this way and how the DV is actually affecting the sound?

If you don't hear any negative effects there's no problem. My guess is that it adds a bit of tube warmth to the sound. Generally a preamp is used with a power amp, not an integrated (power amp has no volume control), but if it's not degrading the sound go ahead and use it if you like it.

Oh and just to clarify, a preamp usually has two functions.
1) It takes the line level signal from a source and allows you to increase or decrease the volume before sending the signal to the power amp.
2) It is a switchbox for multiple sources, usually with a tape loop feature for recording as well.
Some also include tone controls allowing you to modify the sound, but that's not seen too often these days.

2) Oooh. Heh, it looks like that Pioneer speaker amp I bought off ebay is actually a preamp...it comes with CD/tape/video AUX/tuner/phono selections, tape loop recording, a spectrum analyzer, and a simple 5-band equalizer.

But uh...will the "tube" effect be more apparent if I turn the volume of the DV higher? Because it's honestly lower than it would be even if I were using headphones...and the speaker amp's volume is turned up to like 11:00 to avoid channel inbalance.

If the Pioneer has speaker connections then it has a power amp in it as well, thus making it an integrated amp.

You should play with the two volume controls on the Pioneer and the DV and see what you like best.

i do and the sound is great but i use the headphone jack instead of the rca plugs at the back
anyone did a mod to over come this problem
best

Back, back, back from the gallows....3 years old, this thread, but great reading.  I have had my 336SE for a while but never tried its pre-out.  Was rolling some tubes and decided what the heck, let's try it with my A5s w/ ipod dock and the sound is great.  When I use any amp as a pre with my A5s, the volume on the speakers stay at 11 o'clock and I control the volume via amp. On the 336SE I don't go past 8-9 o'clock whereas my WA2 I'm about 11-12 o'clock.  The sound is full, rich and bass is just right. Good times...

 

Just in case anyone reads this post- I'm using the pre-out RCAs in the rear, not the headphone out.

Edited by HeatFan12 - 9/3/10 at 3:28pm