Best Preamp - NO preamp... (?)

This has been discussed before . Every audiophile worth his salt should try it . It may not better your system to your liking ... then again it might  . They are so cheap its a crime not to try it .

I understand your reaction to bypassing the passive.  It appears you are not substituting anything new but rather just eliminating one link, namely, the passive preamp.  Every signal carrying device has limitations, even if it is just the RCA connecting jacks, input selector switches, and a simple attenuator, and if you can eliminate them chances are there will be a sonic improvement.  Let's also not forget you eliminated one interconnect cable as well.

In my case, I still find a very high quality active preamp best suits my system and sonic priorities.  But I use it with a single set of hardwired RCA input jacks, i.e. no selector switch, and there was a clear improvement in sound quality when I did that.

Thank you all for your thoughts.
I totally get it that it's always a personal preference, and depends on component output level, input gain, and impedance matching.
Some DACs don't even offer a variable gain output so for those it's not even an option.
My amp is a very low power Yamamoto A08S so I use the volume between 70-100% anyway, no 'lost' resolution issues.
Other than the need to match gain or impedance, I find it hard to imagine how having the passive preamp in the signal path can make things 'better'.
It makes the signal pass through additional connectors and IC cable, internal wiring, solder points, input selector, and volume control. The passive preamp I have is considered one of the best you can get at any price point, and removing it from the signal path had such a profound positive impact that I still can't believe it's even the same system. Active preamps should be worse in that regard, no matter how good they are, as the signal travels through many more components. 
I had a friend come over last night, who is very familiar with my system, and he too was shocked what a difference it made, He texted me this morning that he couldn't sleep last night after hearing my system, and is now thinking of selling his excellent gear, and getting the exact same setup as mine. I must be very lucky to find such a perfect match :-)
I still need to check how it works with my phono stage, but my TT is going for service this week. I honestly think that even if it doesn't work well, I will be looking for another phono stage that does work well, and will not even consider putting a preamp back in the system.
Highly recommended everybody - Give it a try! 
:-)

I think my point for discussion is actually better phrased this way:
Instead of looking for a best (objective) match between 3 components, source-preamp-amp, perhaps we should be looking for the best direct source-amp match, eliminating the preamp altogether. Unless you need multiple sources of course.
This should be an overall easier task as way fewer combinations are possible, and the potential benefit is much higher as the signal path is significantly shorter.
For gain / impedance matching, a simple resistor divider network can do the trick instead of a full blown preamp...
I know there are decent RCA and XLR attenuators out there for sale.
If you need the gain boost that an active preamp provides, wouldn't you be better off looking for a source with higher output, or an amp with higher gain?

I know people like to torture themselves.
Diving underneath your rack and taking off one set of plugs, hooking up the other set of plugs to switch components seems insane and unnecessary.
What you're explaining indeed is you simply got rid of passive preamp in order to use active line stage of the DAC or phonostage.  Active drive is almost always better because tonal balance is easier to achieve in almost any volume setting... So my solution would be finding inexpensive active unit such as Cary AES or McCormack RLD would bring you even to higher performance level than you having with your current source units.