Best Sounding Passive Preamp

I was just too dumb to hook the Saga up. I started all over again and followed directions, for a change, and despite my learning disabilities, got it successfully inputted and outputted.
The sound is quite refined both buffered and non-buffered. I don't know if Schitt is a tongue in cheek operation, making fun of the whole audio circus; in any event, I like the sound. My Transcendent tube pre was,by comparison, blurred and lacking air with more pronounced peaks in both voices and instruments, especially guitar. I had a CD over my PSAudio Lambda transport and Classe DAC 1--and 180 gram vinyl Eric Clapton's "Unplugged"..
Still listening, no doubt I'm sticking with the Saga. For $350? Come on Man!! What's not to like?

Never had any luck with passives...  far inferior to my Ayre preamp.

Glad you got things worked out and are happy with results. They make some really good Schiit for the money in my experience.

I wonder why no one mentioned Prometheus passive pre, any one have input on that?

Prometheus is a TVC passive (Transformer Volume Control).
http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=7513

These tend to have a "signature" sound, and are not as transparent to the source as a potentiometer, ldr, or switched resistor based passives. Some love their colouration, some don’t. And if they use a winding on the transformer/s with some gain they can "ring" a bit. (they also tend to be expensive for a passive)

Cheers George