basic passive preamp

"Passives don't work nearly as well as active..."


What...??? Music First Audio's Baby Reference blows many actives out the water.

majorc
 George I didn't understand your post re what are on ebay for under $100. And how does the sound quality of the Schitt compare to the others 

Hi, when you said in your first post affordable. I thought cheap but good. The Schiits volume control inside is every bit as good as other potentiometer based passives being presented here that are far more expensive. That’s what makes them a great buy, with a return policy.

I also manufacture the LDR based passive the Lightspeed Attenuator which is maybe too expensive for you, and only one input. Second from the top in this link.
https://forum.audiogon.com/topics/amps-preamps?tab=alltime

And this is just one of the ebay line level rca switch box.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-PORT-WAY-AUDIO-2-RCA-SWITCH-BOX-IN-OUT-MANUAL-SELECTOR-SPLITTER-/370853108342?hash=item5658915a76:g:e3kAAMXQb29R3-dX

Cheers George

I concur with the Mccormack Micro Line Drive preamp, own one and it is spectacular. The passive side provides dynamics like an active pre would deliver. The active side provides up to 12 db of gain and it is very good sounding as well. Steve's amps are designed to be used with passive preamps. I still own The Mccormack DNA-1 Rev B after all these years.

Yes the McCormack Micro line drive is a great potentiometer based passive, with an active stage that can be switched in as well, if your source has low output voltage, <1v. 
Trouble is the active stage is just a  Analog Devices AD712 dual-op-amp chip, not the best of audio opamps, that would be better replaced for dual OPA627's per channel on Browndog adapter boards.
And I think it's only available s/h, long discontinued now.

http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/521/#jMEKhFqoSfSA6o7j.97

Cheers George           

Thank you George for the heads up on the op amps and if a upgrade there is still available it would be worth looking into.  Let me pull a statement from Stereophile worth repeating: "The task of the designer is to come up with a preamp circuit that does the least damage to the audio signal, then add the necessary preamp functions in such a way that the purity of the signal is not compromised".