Who needs a Preamp??

I have not encountered a passive that can drive a high current amp and cables as well as a top tier preamp with a really good VC. As many have stared most commercial units use really poor quality VS's.  What people do not understand is that while a line level component may have enough voltage to drive an amp to clipping it is NOT the typical situation at listening levels. Most people only listen at 1 to 5 watts RMS which is a greatly attenuated level. If you think about it in terms of signal level being transmitted across the interconnect we are talking very low signal levels here that are far more sensitive to ground currents, common mode noise, RF noise and impedance reflections. A really good preamp can deal with those issues with supreme transparency whereas almost every passive outside of a TVC seems to be very sensitive to RF which give a slight edgieness that I feel people mistake foe transparency. Larger amps that draw significant currents also are difficult for a passive as the ground loop induced currents have no mechanism to control them being that the output impedance of a passive is extremely poor.  Now an amp with a well integrated volume control has some potential though

 my thought process has always been your amp and preamp is only as good as the interconnect cable that connects the two products some people love separates me I got myself a really good integrated and that's my word on that

There are three camps here concerning the use of preamps. The active, passive, and the no-preamp crowd. Who's right? There are no right or wrong answers here, strictly based on personal preferences, the type of gear involved and the speakers you are dealing with.  For myself and with the current set-up, I like an active preamp which gives me the ability to switch between multiple sources and provides the proper drive for my particular amp.

OCD HiFi Guy (youtube channel) recently did a preamp shootout, including a stock Freya II and one with lots of mods. It didn’t come close to the others compared

I have tried many passives over the decades, including autoformers. Most likely the biggest issue was impedance mismatch. My current amp (EVS 1200) was interfaced with a AA DPA-1 + PS 5. Recently, I bypassed the pre and came straight out of my Oppo 105 with upgrade LPM that has a large toroid and better parts than the OEM. PS. Sounds pretty darn good. Keep in mind Ric also has a Oppo, albeit a 205, meaning impedance is probably matched

I have a ~ 15 yo PS Audio GCC 250 the GC stands for Gain Cell, sort of a passive. Why isn’t that tech still around?

While this thread seems to have run its course, I’ll nonetheless ask for some guidance. I totally get the active vs passive discussion, having had placette and reference line one way back in the day and several actives since.
i now have the lumin x1 and it’s Much better w any active pre.  
I’m interested in the Townshend Allegri ref, but gotta wonder how that could improve on going direct using the dac’s volume control.