Amp/Preamp Asylum

LSA Group Hyper Drive 2 Tube preamp or Schitt Kara?

24.53.3.56

fstein

While my placette is dead or waiting for repair, looking at sub $1K preamps. Need 3 inputs.
Both of the above are well under budget.
? Choice?
?others? eg Topping Pre90 + extender

Edits: 05/15/24

Follow Ups:

You may not believe this but..... - AbeCollins 14:10:11 05/18/24 (3)
I have owned 4 of the preamps that you mentioned including:
- Schiit Kara
- Topping Pre90+Extender
- LSA Group Hyper Drive 2
- Placette Passive
The Schiit Kara is easily my top pick. It has balanced and unbalanced ins/outs. The Kara is great on sonics and offers passive mode with relay switched precision resistors similar to the Placette. Personally I find that it sounds best in active mode in my current system. Nice to have that choice. I like the Kara a little better than the vacuum tube Schiit Freya+ but that's mostly a matter of personal preference. Both are excellent preamps.
The Topping Pre90 + Extender sounds fine but "the remote control is frustrating." See Kal's Stereophile review for the quote. And it wasn't actually just the remote but the fact that the preamp didn't consistently respond to remote commands on the first try. This shortcoming had nothing to do with aiming it precisely but that is also an issue.
The LSA Hyper Drive 2 was fine but offered no remote. The knob and markings on the face look cool but the knob has a hallow plastic-ey feel to it. The odd shape of the LSA made it difficult to place especially with the tubes sticking out the top. Just nit picking on those points but it hindered placement in my smallish audio rack.
The Placette is an outstanding passive in the right setup. You know this as you have one. Mine did very well with my somewhat high output Cary CD 306/200 CDP from decades ago.
LSA HyperDrive 2 in my setup

Schiit Kara in my setup

Topping Pre90 + Ext 'for sale photos' on the kitchen table

I didn't keep it around long as a good Remote Control is a must for me.

Placette with my Cary CDP from decades ago

Edits: 05/19/24 05/19/24
- RE: You may not believe this but..... - kh6idf 14:09:57 06/11/24 (2)
  I have had the Schiit Kara for about 4 months now. It is great, but mine had DC offset levels a little higher than I preferred (still within specs according to Schiit). Since my amplifier is DC coupled, this gets amplified even more and sent to the speakers.
  I found one preamp manufacturer (Topping) that advertised their DC offset levels ("less than 1 mVRMS") so ordered a Pre90 last week. I have it now and it is very very good. My measurements of DC offset are 0.1 mV on one leg of the XLR (relative to the ground pin) and 0.0 mV on the other, for both Left and Right channels, well within Topping's spec. My amp (Hypex Nilai DIY500 stereo) is set to low gain so it can handle the high output from the Pre90 (Normally I play music around the -15 to -10 dB setting). I solved the remote range problem with a $9 IR extender from Amazon. And Abe, I found that the first press of any remote button 'wakes up' the preamp and turns on the display (I have it set to turn off after 30 seconds) without doing anything, then the second press actually does something. With the extender strategically mounted where the transmitter is shining at the Pre90 receiver, it works very reliably from about 12 feet away.
  
  Edits: 06/11/24 06/11/24 06/11/24 06/11/24
  - RE: You may not believe this but..... - escape2cfc 22:00:25 06/11/24 (1)
    Hi,
    
    I have the same Topping Preamp and Extender... Please forward the Amazon listing info for Remote Control Accessory you have had success with... Thanks In Advance.
    
    Chuck
    - IR extender link - kh6idf 17:58:50 06/12/24 (0)
      Link below.
      I'm also including a picture of how I have it installed. USB plug goes to a Raspberry Pi (small silver box in photo).
      Cable Matters Infrared Remote Extender (Open in New Window)
      Edits: 06/12/24
If you lovin' your Placette ... - Feanor 03:52:13 05/17/24 (0)
... Surely you'll want a passive(?) The Schitt Kara has an excellent 'Passive' mode using a 128-step relay-switched attenuator. It has great, low distortion powered modes and headphone amp.
LSA Group Hyper Drive 2 would be a completely different kettle-of-fish.

Dmitri Shostakovich
- Schiit Kara (Open in New Window)
Edits: 05/17/24
RE: LSA Group Hyper Drive 2 Tube preamp or Schitt Kara? - 6bq5 10:30:02 05/15/24 (0)
I have not used one in my system, but the system in my son's apartment has a Khozmo (not sure which model, but not one of the top units) and it sounds great!

Having said this, the Schiit is great also...
Happy Listening
- Linky (Open in New Window)

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