If you’re currently using a digital volume control, you need to hear it!
Superkikkin is a remote controlled analogue stereo pre amplifier with two line level inputs.
Project Superkikkin started as a request for a new and better version of Kikkin ; my first preamp that was released in 2008. Kikkin became very popular due to its musical qualities and electronically robust design. The now quite old units still sound like new and they are still sought after on the second hand market.
I had two objectives with the new design: To improve upon the sound quality of Kikkin and to add a second input. The single input of the original Kikkin was a serious drawback and some units had seen so many plug-unplug cycles that the connectors had cracks in their joints against the circuit board. Two inputs should please the minimalist enthusiast who listens to both vinyl and digital.
Although at first I tried diverging radically from the original Kikkin design, I soon found that some of its musical magic was thanks to a certain combination of old film capacitors, some of which were out of production already in 2008. Thankfully I bought a lot of them back then, after having spent months listening to and sorting out my favourites. With this original combination, a certain musical harmony was present in the new design. When counting my stock of these old capacitors, I concluded that I could make exactly 101 new units. If I could manage to nail the final design with only one prototype, that meant 100 units to sell.
One area that could be improved with new technology was the power regulation. Here a solution from my integrated amp Boazu fitted perfectly, with its precise voltage reference circuit feeding the digital control parts. This makes the new unit sound cleaner and more precise than the original Kikkin. Another area that could be improved was the circuit board layout. Fifteen years of experience tightened it up considerably, which can also be heard in the music being tightened up.
At this point, I had made a new version of Kikkin that was musically cleaner and tighter, without loosing the harmony of the original. Now I just had to add a second input. Neither the solid state switching of Sagatun nor the input mixer of Boazu suited this design, so I decided to try a simple mechanical switch. As such switches sound musically very different, I ordered a whole lot of them and compared them by ear. The best sounding switch (which happened to be the most expensive one) had a minimal influence on the music and I positioned it in the rear upper corner of the unit. This way it could be soldered directly to the circuit board, next to the input connectors, and not need any internal cabling. The musical influence of such a cable would have become bigger than the switch itself. I also felt that when the owner decides to play some vinyl, he or she can easily flip that switch when putting the needle in the groove.
In the summer of 2023, the new Kikkin was complete. I managed to make it with only one prototype, so exactly 100 units were manufactured. I named it Superkikkin and I think you’ll agree with me that it’s an extremely musical preamp.
Superkikkin was in the summer of 2024 very favorably reviewed in the French enthusiast magazine VUmètre No 54.
Version history
- Version 1.0
- Introduced September 26th 2023
- Version 1.1
- Introduced September 26th 2024
- New firmware
- Sound improvement: Yes
- Previous model upgradable: Yes