Passive preamps - differences between technologies

Yes, the Hattor passive with discrete shunt attenuator is quite good. I have/had 2 of them, the pure passive and the dual mono buffered. The buffered version requires some discrete OA rolling to get the best results (of course). Industrial OA just don’t cut it IME.

Transformers/magnetics do also impose a signature IME. I’ve also had AVC and TVC passive pres. IME, resistor shunts much less so, with wonderful organic naturalness. But alas, the dynamics can be boring unfortunately.

Nor do the magnetic pres solve the issue of coloration vs needing buffering. They might couple the signal a little better than a resistive passive, and I say "might". But the coloration imposed in the process doesn’t cut it IME. OTOH the passive shunt atten definitely needs buffering in most cases.

But that raises the question of exactly how to buffer such that it works the best with 0 ~ coloration. A tall task, and have been working on it personally for years.. But lately that has been solved very nicely via a) an optimized impedance shunt attenuator, b) utterly amazing, no distortion, no coloration, no global feedback discrete buffers that can also drive pretty much anything and c) the topology, ie where exactly do you place the buffers (and where not).

What we need is, the glorious organic, uncolored naturalness of the passive shunt attenuator with say, Z foils. But also the perfect dynamics of a (properly) buffered version. Eureka, it’s been solved and it’s a game changer.

I said "had" the Hattor above because the passive was converted to the above eureka buffered pre a few months ago and my high end audio bud in Dallas wouldn’t let me return home with it. Sold already, the first day of its premier demo lol. And he can use anything; it displaces an expensive Esoteric setup (and a few others). Yes, it really is that good.

Just sharing my experience. Not trying to step on any toes here. YMMV.

TK

The Luminous Audio has the shortest signal path of them all. Just saying. Enjoy, MrD.

Don’t have the technical know-how of most on this thread but I’ve been using a Slagle/Jackson(EMIA) elmaformer for the last few years. I haven’t shot it out vs other passive designs but it did beat out a Levinson no.28 and a McIntosh c220 in my high efficiency horn system. Beautiful large step attenuated volume knob and a three input switch. 
 

looks-wise it’s my favorite piece of gear in any system I’ve had/seen

Thanks for all the recommendations and sharing your experience. 

Slightly added warmth/richness would be a lot more welcomed than any loss of dynamics. 

Simply put, I'm wondering if it's worth it puchasing something like Music First Audio Classic V2 or if the technology advanced so much I'd be better off with something else (I'm only assuming that because there's apparently a big difference between V1 and V2 while the first version isn't that much older).

Townshend Allegri Reference looks absolutely amazing but it's also rare on a used market and very expensive. Maybe it's just wrong intuition but Music First Audio would be probably the best choice in terms of performance and resale value. 

My speakers are 92,5dB, power amp's input sensitivity is 300k ohms and both DAC and phono preamp have pretty strong output capabilities. Especially with the phono (RCM sensor2) I'm suffering with too much gain from the ARC LS16 preamp. Setting lower gain on the phono stage results in muddy sound when set too low. Also, I live in the city center and the mains isn't the cleanest. So I assume my system would welcome a passive preamp with open arms :)

I gave up after ten years use a wonderful sounding dual mono valve preamp in favour of the complete quiet and transparency of detail of an Audion Select TVC line level pre amplifier (copper transformer windings w/ silver internal hook up wires) —sound is colourful, vibrant and dynamic - not in an additive way, just that it’s not greying or shrinking the sound as you would find with most alternative means of adjusting volume. Speakers are 104db horns.