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Warpspeed+KWA-100SE. With the LS-100 the natural-born mate to Dan Wright's 100wpc stereo amp, their built-in synergy promised to unfairly handicap the 'squid. But that's prior to factoring the SIT amps' own lucid-mode behavior. It's what makes a sophisticated subtle valve preamp such a compelling match. With the KWA-100SE being heavier and not as preterrnaturally resolved, might not the Warpspeed take over transparency duties in the SITs' absence? Playing the narrow niche of balance between body and transparency in an attempt to load up either scale equally, it's not about pedigree and specs in isolation. It's about how different ingredients interact. Will they sum into the secret sauce? Do they cancel out? Overdo specific traits?


Swapping in the ModWright amp for the Pass monos fronted by the ModWright preamp rendered the presentation rather more redolent. The subjective impression was one of quite increased reverb and watercolour transitions. For my tastes the connective tissue between the notes had now become slightly over-emphasized. Former separation, sorting clarity and overall lucidity had shifted into something denser, softer and warmer. To some this could be heaven. For those wanting to track back a bit, how would the Warpspeed do? To doctor's orders as it turned out. Like a grease-cutting kitchen cleaner, the 'squid diminished the reverberant decay-centric action. Things moved closer to the transients for a more rhythmic less voluptuous gestalt. Bass lightened up as well. Once again the choice of preamp acted like a steering wheel to change gestalt.

How about eliminating Alex Peychev's transformer-coupled valve output stage in the NWO-M? Thus far it had run as DAC with a battery-powered Audiophilleo 2 handling USB. Time for the Eximus DP-1. In conjunction with the ModWright amp it would also allow for all XLR cabling to test that option. As expected from prior experiments, the Korean converter made further steps towards higher crystallization. By now all glowing bits of small-signal valves had been eliminated yet the final sound still wasn't bleached or threadbare. But at this juncture reinstating the FirstWatt monos did overshoot where my tastes were concerned. Once you've settled on a personal balance that feels right, there's little wiggle room before right turns wrong. Equally true, one can achieve that balance by various means and equipment combinations. Time for a mini RCA/XCLR showdown within the same Zu Event cable family

This unexpectedly solidified the sound. Balanced cabling sounded more robust, firm and grounded particularly in the depth domain. The rear of the soundstage didn't have more lights turned on but was simply equally physical as the front. Simultaneously the gestalt had become a tad more damped and less buoyant. Of course there was no way of knowing whether this was due to the converter, passive preamp or amp. Would there by any difference whether the 6-meter interconnect to the amp hung off the tail end of 'squid or Eximus?

'Shorting' the Warpspeed made a small improvement similar to the RCA/XLR change. The Germans have the perfect word for it. Mehr vollmundig - more full-flavored. While I'd never felt that the 'full-length' passive sounded malnourished, this experiment showed that a very mild form of subtraction had been - um, active. I also noticed improved top-end air. Perhaps this confirmed that as previously suspected against the Tap X, the long cable at the output levels I used incurred a bit of treble shading.

Wrap. In my gain context the full first and third turns of the volume control were redundant. The first was completely inaudible. And I never got out of second before things got too loud. A high-gain system with 100dB speakers however could well access attenuation values inside the first 360°. Sonically Allan's Cherry-clad box was a very pleasant surprise though I for one couldn't live without remote. Sonically it did exactly what a good passive preamp should.s Speaking energetically, it takes the foot off the brake and puts it on the gas. I don't think you can really know the full resolution capability of your system until you've experimented with this quality of passive preamp. Unless you already own a truly top-notch active that competes on raw transparency, you could be in for quite the surprise. Chances are that the passive will be an injection of caffeine, quite the cobweb remover and as such a window opener that lets in a fresh breeze and more sunlight. Granted, it could also remove some welcome girth. But at minimum it'd serve as a baseline reference to demonstrate what your present preamp leaves under the table on immediacy and jump factor.


For the money asked and the comprehensive à-la-carte options available, the Allan Flores Warpspeed V8xW1 is a very fine specimen of the advanced passive preamp art. The no-stop no-step volume control affords very smooth very fine adjustments. The only thing that will take getting used to is that the knob on its hidden shaft turns with nary any resistance. At first it'll seem broken until we grok that light won't oppose our applied force. I was surprised that a 6-meter interconnect posed no real hurdles. Switching to an equivalent 1-meter lead made a far smaller difference than expected. Because this device is passive and additionally powered by batteries, there's zero noise. You clearly needn't be a trekkie or DIY advocate to appreciate the Warpspeed and embark on an affordable journey of exploration about what a really good passive preamp might do for your system. Particularly owners of valve amps should consider this. They might already have all the tone and body necessary to now focus on maximizing the complementary qualities of transparency, speed and energetic immediacy.
Allan Flores email: afdflores @ msn.com
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