No sound

Well, I hooked up the Sys, and lo and behold, I got sound.  Of course it’s primitive compared to my CJ preamp but over all, not too bad.

I was surprised to hear the Schiit Sys being compared as 'not too bad' to a CJ preamp. I had the Sys before but returned it after a fairly short listening period. On my humble system, its sound was restrained and not open at all. The Saga 2 is much, much better—and it's here to stay.

@jetter I kind of wish for swapping two RCA inputs with an XLR input, but this is not, I believe, a truly balanced design anyway. The 64-step relay ladder volume control works great and solves my channel balance issue. Yes, the Saga 2 is a great budget-friendly piece of gear for a humble system.

For a more revealing and pricier system, I strongly recommend the truly balanced Kara or Freya, which can also serve as a backup preamp in the future. 

Strangely, the SQ with the Sys is improving greatly.  I don’t know if it’s breaking in (I didn’t know a switch could break in) or I’m getting used to it.

Only active component like capacitors require some break-in time.  You are mostly likely experiencing psychologically.  As I mentioned before, the sonic disparity between the Sys and Saga 2 is immediately noticeable in my system even Saga could benefit some from break-in.  Nevertheless, I am glad that Sys works in your system and you save hundreds,