the darTZeel battery powered NHB-18NS has a very minimalist remote; only volume up, volume down, and mute....three buttons on a very classy all aluminum, red anodized, perfect hand sized remote. the recesssed buttons have a positive 'click' so you can do very fine adjustments without looking. the remote is not back-lit, but there is no reason for it to be.
but the best part of the dart remote is the actual design of the volume control in the preamp. it is out of the signal path completely.....and no i cannot explain how that is done. like the dart amp; the dart pre has minimal parts count in the signal path and is battery powered for amazingly low noise. most, if not all, other preamps in the performance class of the dart pre don't have a remote. i'm not speaking about cost of preamps as expensive pre's are not always the best sounding; but i am speaking about transparency and naturalness. it is very difficult to add a remote to uncompromised preamp designs. ask a designer if their preamp sounded better without having a remote and they will likely say yes......or they might say that they did not include a remote to retain optimal performance.
you can choose from two volume controls. one has a conventional dial where there is a LED on the dial which allows for easily repeatable volume settings for one rotation that can be seen from accross the room. this choice uses a motor to turn the volume control dial.
the other choice still has the LED on the dial; but there are 4 rotations of the dial on the volume scale so you have much finer steps of volume control. this was my choice and allows for really 'correct' volume adjustments. for this approach the dial does not move when using the remote. but if you turn the dial manually it will turn 4 times from low to full.
both approaches sound great.
you can also preset input gain for each of the 6 inputs and has a unity gain setting for a HT pass-thru.
for my personal listening culture; this remote does exactly what i want; and does not confuse things. when i have visitors and hand them the remote, even in the dark, they can easily use it precisely.....it is that well thought out. many comment 'why can't all remotes be like the dart's?'
but the best part of the dart remote is the actual design of the volume control in the preamp. it is out of the signal path completely.....and no i cannot explain how that is done. like the dart amp; the dart pre has minimal parts count in the signal path and is battery powered for amazingly low noise. most, if not all, other preamps in the performance class of the dart pre don't have a remote. i'm not speaking about cost of preamps as expensive pre's are not always the best sounding; but i am speaking about transparency and naturalness. it is very difficult to add a remote to uncompromised preamp designs. ask a designer if their preamp sounded better without having a remote and they will likely say yes......or they might say that they did not include a remote to retain optimal performance.
you can choose from two volume controls. one has a conventional dial where there is a LED on the dial which allows for easily repeatable volume settings for one rotation that can be seen from accross the room. this choice uses a motor to turn the volume control dial.
the other choice still has the LED on the dial; but there are 4 rotations of the dial on the volume scale so you have much finer steps of volume control. this was my choice and allows for really 'correct' volume adjustments. for this approach the dial does not move when using the remote. but if you turn the dial manually it will turn 4 times from low to full.
both approaches sound great.
you can also preset input gain for each of the 6 inputs and has a unity gain setting for a HT pass-thru.
for my personal listening culture; this remote does exactly what i want; and does not confuse things. when i have visitors and hand them the remote, even in the dark, they can easily use it precisely.....it is that well thought out. many comment 'why can't all remotes be like the dart's?'