How is the TacT RCS 2.0 as a pre amp vs

Interesting. However, the Placette and its Vishay resistors don't boost the volume, unless you ordered your Placette with gain (standard issue, which I have, has no gain). But your findings would apply anyway.

Does anyone know if the TacT has gain, or is it unity?

Drubin: I have the Placette dual mono active. The TacT...with the volume control set to 93.9 is at 0db. You can add up to 6db of gain from there...but as I described above...I run my TacT and my dCS gear at 0db and adjust volume with the placette.

I also have the dual mono active. When I get my new TacT, I will certainly try the configuration you describe

For what it's worth, my experience matches Hbrandt. I have the dCS 972/Elgar combo. I have a Vishay resistor shunt to ground volume control built into each of my Melos Monoblocks. The Elgar is directly connected to the Melos. For serious listening I set the dCS gear to Odb and adjust for peak levels on the monoblocks. My serious listening is confined mostly to classical so this isn't a big deal. I use the Sigtech but in my trial of the Tact I found a noticable loss of transparency from about -10 db.

Pls1: Since you've used both, I'd be interested in your comparison of the SigTech and the TacT. Please give us your honest, unbiased opinion! Also, I appreciate hearing that someone else has felt some synergy between the dCS gear and Vishays.