[MosDeaf]

I see that it's a TVC passive preamp. I've never tried one but I've seen where many people love them.
I came across a designer/brand named Promitheus Audio that seems to specialize in TVC volume control for reasonable prices. They had some other components that interested me as well.. but I had a hard time finding any current owners or user reviews. Their stuff looks good to me though.

I did recently purchase a relay controlled attenuator off eBay from Ukraine. The same ones used in Phast preamps.. another Ukraine based designer. I bought the simple 2 channel unit just to try out & I'll admit that I was impressed. I liked it better than my GoldPoint stepped when I directly compared the 2 in the same circuit. Better sound & stage perceptions. There could be a little bias towards the relay attenuator because it has a remote.. but I think it sounds great. I replaced an Alps remote with it in my SP13 & the difference was grand.

I ended up making a passive out of the relay control with a wood enclosure I grabbed off Amazon for $30 bucks. Pulled the volume control completely out of the SP13 & used it as a tube buffer in my patio system with the relay passive controlling the volume. The buffer helped with its added gain

A transformer based volume control will still be superior. How it handles current, filters noise, & transforms voltage cant be matched by the usual suspects of attenuators. If you go that route I hope you share your experiences somewhere in the forum. I like the relay attenuator because it was cheap in comparison to other quality attenuators, I didn't lose anything when pulling out my stepped attenuators, & it has remote control.

The passive is a little sloppy as it was a quick build to see if I would like it. My photos came out sideways again..not sure how to correct it.

[nlitworld]

Yeah, parts connexion on sale is good. Also if ever looking for Audyn or Jantzen caps, Parts Express is like half the cost of P.C. on the regular.

The Django preamp has been a recommendation I've heard a few times from Tyson. Prometheus is certainly looking decent for a bit less $, but I've also seen some threads on here of shipping delays or QC issues. I still like the idea of tubes in a lower gain unit for pairing with my Douk A5 in the summer. Perhaps I just need a second preamp to pair according to the amp choice. It's a tough life... We'll see what I go with, but that'll likely be my winter project this year.