Which Component Has the Greatest Affect on Low-Level Listening

To me super efficient speakers driven passively by say a Schiit Aegir 20w Class-A. are the way for low level listening, "IF" you can handle their colorations/distortions, I can’t, "especially" horns.

Cheers George

Music tends to sound thin at low volumes, that's why the Fletcher-Munson Loudness curve was developed.  Most higher-end stuff doesn't have a loudness control, nor does it have tone controls.  For me personally, the addition of the Schiit Loki allowed me to tailor the sound both for different headphones as well as for speakers at low volumes.  BTW, the suggestion for power conditioning and power cords is pure nonsense.

You answered your own question while asking it.

It is amplifier with a loudness control.

It is admirable that amplifiers strive to provide a linear frequency response.  But that is completely the wrong pursuit.  Engineers knew this about 50 years ago when they were designing amplifiers.  Since humans listen to them, and human ear has a NON linear way of hearing frequencies, all amplifiers made for humans should all include a loudness control.

THAT is the most important component.  It can be adjusted to overcome the shortcomings of a turntable, speaker and what not.  You cannot say the same for any other component.

Yep agree, a Loki is the Schiit, for this sort of thing, discrete very transparent, I use one "flat" as a buffer to drive my two sub woofers very transparent.

Cheers George

Loudness control, how about that! How quickly we forget they ever existed. Good for Schiit, and good for efficient speakers. Still, aren't we hypothesizing near-field listening and a low noise floor?  Because if I want to hear from any distance or at any tangent, the amp needs to crank well above its Class A threshold, equalizers notwithstanding.