I use the Placette Remote Volume Control, which is a passive pre without any buffering or switching, in one of my systems. Like most passives it is difficult to match with a solid state amp without losing some dynamics. But with my valve amps it is magic. I use 6m of cable between DAC and Placette and then 1m from Placette to power amps with no discernable loss of dynamics (and I am very picky about a system's dynamic pace and life). I even tried it the other way around (ie. 6m between Placette and amps) and found it worked OK with only a small loss of dynamics. The important thing here is the power amps the Placette is expected to drive, followed by the cable and length of cable it has to drive. But with my very sensitive valve amps the Placette works better than anything else I have tried - and by a huge margin. Most valve amps are really easy to drive. In the right system the Placette is very very transparent and very very musical. The only downside is the very poor build quality (best you do not look inside) - top quality components are used but the fixing methods beggar belief. But there is nothing about the build quality that suggests it will not be reliable provided you refrain from using it as a frisbee.
