One update to share that I really didn't mention for some odd reason.
The $56 or $59 passive has a ridiculously deep and wide sound stage. I compared it against high end preamps and it smoked them on the sound stage. Maybe not quite in the tone area, but amazing for the price. I haven't stacked them (buy two one for each channel) but it has to improve. That's a $120 dual mono experiment that is sure to pay off dividends.