Buffer amp no gain

The unity gain "buffer" that I like involves the use of transformers.  I've heard a few and liked how they remove hard and artificial sounding "edginess"  without sounding murky or dynamically dull.  The attached is a discussion of the subject:

Erik,

The problem with most transformer volume controls was the limited number of volume steps—the right volume seemed to always be between adjacent steps.  The are some nice ones offered my MyEmia (autoformer) that has many steps and remotely controlled volume and balance.  They used to offer the autoformer and relay switching as a kit, so one could build the control into one’s own gear, but I think the kit days are long past.  

I don't think the number of steps in an attenuator is a particular problem, when it is a matter of relays switching in different resistors.  How does it hurt to have more steps?  A Levinson No. 32 preamp I owned had much more steps than that (.1 db steps).  I thought the Levinson steps were crazy small because one cannot easily hear a full db change with music, but, when I adjusted balance, I found that one can hear a .2db change in level of one channel, which explains why they offered such small increments of change.  

A local dealership that sells only tube electronics (some made in-house) sells an in-line transformer buffer.  I did not need it, but, I did get to hear what it does.  It makes the sound seem more "open" and expansive (more enveloping soundstage), and whether or not this is artificial, it sounded good to me.  But, I didn't think I needed it because my gear is stuffed with iron--the linestage has transformer inputs and transformer outputs, and my amplifier has transformer inputs and, of course, output transformers.  All of these transformers are quite old Western Electric parts.

I have heard only the Silver Rock transformer volume control and the MyEmia autoformer volume control, but, neither was actually in my system.  I have not played around with different forms of volume controls, but, I have heard various passive linestages with different types of volume control, including light-dependent resistors.  In my own system, I heard Placette's passive linestage with a 128 step relay switched attenuator, and their unity gain active linestage with the same 128 step attenuator.  I bought the active stage; it sounded more lively than the passive even if it had no gain.