Life without a remote

I generally don't use a remote. Never bothered me one bit, but from what I have seen, for most audiophiles, it is a requirement. It seems we're now willing to compromise sonic performance (presuming a unit being considered without the remote is superior to one being considered with it) for the convenience.

But, who am I to judge? I listen to CDs at almost all times, knowing full well their inherent inferiority to vinyl.

Joe, I think presuming that a preamp w/o a remote is superior to a preamp w/ a remote is a real stretch. As I said earlier, I've owned a few 'high end' preamps w/o remotes from manufacturers like Coda, Krell, Threshold, Conrad Johnson, etc. I have also owned preamps with remotes from manufacturers like Threshold, VAC, ARC, BAT, Krell, etc. As far as what I've heard, the preamps overall design is much more important sonically than whether the preamp has a remote or not.

Grant's preference for the Lamm over the ARC would probably stay the same if the Lamm had a remote and the ARC did not. I've heard enough preamps to know that I believe the remote is a non-issue sonically compared to the design of the preamp. FWIW, I've found that I prefer tubes over SS preamps. That is a major difference to me. Arguing over whether a remote improves or degrades the audio experience is like arguing over whether a phase switch is necessary or not.

The enjoyment of sound is in the design of the preamp, not the bells and whistles. That's my $0.02.

Cheers,
John

I agree with John regarding his specific points about my preference.

However, I will add that had I tried the ARC and Lamm with different amps or different speakers, the results might have been different. One never knows.

In 1980, my Navy roommate (uncle Chuck) and I were approached by a salesman putting the hard sell on us to buy a remote controlled tv.

Chuck acted very annoyed, stared the guy down and said in a stern voice 'sir, the day I am too dang lazy to tell my wife and kids to adjust the tv- I'll buy one!'

Uncle Chuck was a funny guy..,,

About two years ago I was looking for a preamp to replace  my McCormack RLD 1 preamp , which was no slouch to begin with.  It was a full featured remote pre,  although I never really like it's digital volume I did appreciate it having a remote.  I came across the Conrad Johnson Classic 2SE,  a stripped down pre, no remote,  just a source selector and conventional volume control.   I had some reservation about going from a fully remote pre to such a stripped down design.  After listing to it in what was probably a $50k system it was clear that this pre was a keeper and that sound not features were more important.  On top of that several of my sources had remote variable line out so when I was too lazy to get my ass off the couch I could still at least control the volume.   I could have maybe stretched my budget and bought an ET3 but I wanted an SE with upgraded Teflon caps and Vishay resistors, which was $1500 more than the base SE. For me the Classic was just what I was looking for, I don't regret it one bit.