Passive Pre - No Regrets?

i was the very happy owner of the Balanced version of the Placette passive RVC for 5 years until about a year ago when i replaced the $1800 Placette with the $23k darTZeel NHB-18NS. the Placette replaced the Levinson #32 preamp back in 2001 and then proceeded to easily better maybe 10 to 15 preamps in my system over 5 years. this includes quite a few $10k to $15k units as well as a few other passives.

there were a couple of pre's that were at the same level of the Placette overall but with trade-offs.

i did compare the Placette to the Bent Audio passive here;

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=tweaks&n=77331&highlight=mikel&r=&session=

a few above posts comment that the Placette passive lacks dynamics compared to other passives or some of the best active pre's. that was not my experience 'except' in the case of the battery powered darTZeel; which has dynamics beyond anything i have heard. my experience was that assuming that the interconnects between the Placette and the amp were kept very short (1 meter maximum and .5 meter ideally) and the input impedence of the amp was sufficiently high, the Placette offered SOTA dynamics and really micro-dynamic life that was amazing.

at $1000 list price for the single-ended version and $1800 for the balanced version the Placette RVC has such a high price/value relationship that one can hardly have any excuse not to at least try one. the passive linestage is $400 more (for the single-ended version) and has equal performance.

it remains the second best pre i have yet heard.

unconditionally recommended.

I posted my thoughts early in this thread and have been following the very constructive discussion.

i read somewhere in the thread that the power supply for the Placette passive RVC does not (or should not) benefit from a quality power cord. that was also my thought 'originally' too. but i did experiment with it and to my great surprise i did hear a bit lower noise floor with the little power supply connected to a good power cord. i don't have my RVC any more and can't remember exactly how it connects....but until you try it don't 'assume' anything.

my opinion is simply that the Placette is sooo damn transparent that any improvement jumps right out. Guy from Placette told me at one point that you can 'stack' 5 RVC's and compare them to one RVC and they sound identical. i believe it. try that with any other attenuator.