[sumoking]

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.

[mresseguie]

Well, after lurking on this thread for who knows how long, I finally ordered an SMD DACT on eBay. I want to try it with my dB Audio Labs Tranquility DAC and one of my amps. I'll eventually get round to posting my impressions.

Thanks to all for their thoughts and impressions.

Michael

[A quick thank you to sumoking for posting a reply to this thread. It reminded me that I never posted my impressions of the SMD Dact that I purchased.]

I tried the SMD DACT passive pre with two different amps - an IceEdge 1200as2, and my KT88. The volume control was scratchy, and the soundstage was flat. I never used it after that. It was 'garbage' in my system. I may still try the Nobsound or Schiit someday, but it's not a high priority right now.