[flavo]

I too own a Tortuga passive and love it. Morten plans to release updated, lower cost modular versions of his preamp later this month https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=168215.0

"kernelbob" Thank you for the write up. It was much appreciated.

And thank you ^^ for the link to the Tortuga news.
If I was to get a passive pre it was going to be a Tortuga anyway due to several reasons, one being the popularity and ease of resale down the road.
But at the new price it seems like a real no brainer to try one out.

[flavo]

YMMV..., the LDAR sounded nothing like the other passives including a K&K TVC (which was amazing in its own right - transparency).

What is LDAR?

[ssglx]

Light Dependent Resistor Attenuation

[eboleyn]

I use passive preamps in all of my detailed listening setups (3 currently).

Having said that, I rate what to do in roughly 3 categories here:

• Don't know anything about your setup or want ultimate flexibility:  Tortuga LDR passives are a great choice since it allows control via remote and even configurable impedance for matching.
• Know the impedance of your amp/cabling but still like remote control of volume:  Khosmo or other fixed impedance versions can be less expensive but still quite adequate for results.
• Know the impedance of your amp/cabling and don't even need a remote control:  Frankly any matched output passive works here.

NOTE: as a general rule, when using a balanced passive, matching of 1% gives you roughly a CMR of -40db, and 0.1% matching gives you roughly -60db CMR.

So, my usual case I use is the last one above then use digital volume for the final small range I commonly change across.

[Mark Korda]

https://www.schiit.com/products/sys  Hi Flavo, I built my own passive preamp and built one that uses transformers too. Here is a way to try out what you think for about 50 bucks. Even though Shiitt offers a money back offer if not pleased that switch box might come in handy for different audio set ups and would be worth keeping anyway.....Mark Korda