If best audio quality is the goal, then a remote is very helpful. The remote should be capable of making very small adjustments in left/right channel balance. These small adjustments can snap the soundstage into better focus and can only be judged from the listening position. Very few remotes have this function. It is probably very costly to properly implement.
Is preamp remote volume a deal breaker for you?
I've been looking for a quality active tube preamp with remote volume control. Most high quality tube preamps that are reasonably priced (ie, under $4000) do not come with remote volume. Those that do use the cheap motorized Alps pot (I've had bad experience with Alps), probably because it's cheap and widely available. I've seen some very expensive preamps us this pot, unfortunately. The two very high quality preamps I've read about are the SAS Labs 11A, Don Allens preamp, and Atma-sphere M3, but the designers refuses to implement remote because they believe the sound will suffer. Atma-sphere uses a huge hand assembled remote volume only for there expensive MP1. A preamp without remote is a deal breaker for me. How about you?