Dodd preamp vs. McCormack RLD-1 preamp

Yep, Dodd's impedance is quite low for tube design.
Isabella on the other hand (keep in mind that Dodd and Isabella are very similar if you compare the facts)
output at just under 1K. You might acctualy have a better luck matching Dodd with whatever your heart desires.
One of the features the Dodd is missing and which Isabella includes on back of the unit, is the gain switch(12db+). That will makes it easier to integrade with most systems. While we tried to find out if it had any negative effect on the sound quality, I must honestly say that if there was, I didn't sense any.

Pubul57,
like you said....it is system dependent and matter of taste.
But Dodd in my book is an easy recommendation and very well balanced preamp. Unless you are looking for certain coloration and want to use your preamp as the tunning tool.

The gain switch would be a fantastic feature to add to the Dodd. I can run passive with no gain issues, it would very nice to have 0, +6db, +16db (or someting like that) toggle switch, but alas. I do agree that it would be a pretty important feature for use with different front ends and/or amps. I asked Gary if I could reduce the gain, giving me more play with the volume control, but it does not appear it can be done - unless I misunderstood him.

I would like to thank Spencer (sbank) for recommending I try the Dodd; I'm glad I did.

I would like to thank Mrj for all the info on the Dodd and how it helped me buy and try it out in my Audio Note system. It smokes the AN M3.

I read in the sixmoons review, "The preamp is remote controlled and offers 2 outputs for biamping or adding a subwoofer, as well as having a passive pass-thru that operates with the unit in the off position. " Does that mean it can be used as a passive pre? If so, how do you do that?

They're referring to the Home Theater pass-thru.