Preamps better than Parasound JC-2 ?

"Honestly, I am finding it a bit difficult to "like" the JC-2. I had very high hopes for sound improvements. What would you specifically look for when comparing pre-amps?"

That's why you need a really good line stage if you want better sound than your passive. One thing you need to do before making a final decision on the JC-2 is leave it on for a while. I've seen many times where SS gear benefits greatly from letting it warm up for a day or so. If you leave it on from now until tomorrow, it should sound better. I still don't think you'll keep it, but you never know. If you want to try a different active, I still recommend the Ayre K5. There's a good chance you may like it better than your passive.

"The JC-2 seemed "louder" and I cannot go past 9 O'clock position for my normal listening position."

That's normal. A passive preamp doesn't have an amp. An active one does.

Just as a fyi, this is a JC-2 BP. After your suggestion, I kept the unit warmed up for several hours and did some critical listening again. I did find that the dynamics were a tad bit sharper than my TVC - but I am really "trying" very hard to find the differences. In fact I called in my wife for 2 songs and after patiently listening to those songs her comments were the same - the JC-2 is slightly "sharper" than the TVC. But this could also have been that the JC-2 was set to higher volume level. The concern is it's volume starts at 7 O'clock position and I cannot go beyond 9 O'clock.
I will keep the unit on for the whole night and see if that makes a difference. I am not sure if that extra circuit for the "BP" in the JC-2 is making it sound different than what the reviews for the standard JC-2 says. On this forum as well as audioasylum, there are folks who swear by active line stage and would never go passive. I was under the impression that when the JC-2 would be introduced in my system, it would really show all those deficiencies of a "passive" line stage.
When I moved from the power amp section of a NAD integrated to my A21, it did not take me more than 2 mins to hear the difference. Same thing when I moved to the TVC from the same integrated amp's preamp section - this was much more prominent. And here I am struggling to find improvements by the $4795 JC-2 BP over my $1675 TVC.

A box upgrade should sound immediately better to your ears, at least in a demo situation with a broken-in unit. If not, keep what you have. I define "better" as allowing you to enjoy the music more and the system less, if that's possible. You should just want to sit down and listen, as opposed to getting up and screwing around with something. IMO, that's how you know something's "better".

I'd definetly be keeping the TVC, sounds like the JC is not a good "fit" in your system. Personnally I've heard several Parasound gear and have never been impressed. I tried myself to like their JC-3 phono but for a solid state found it noisy!
Keep the TVC and be happy.

07-21-14: Milpai
I will keep the unit on for the whole night and see if that makes a difference. I am not sure if that extra circuit for the "BP" in the JC-2 is making it sound different than what the reviews for the standard JC-2 says.

There isn't really much "extra circuit" for the BP version. From what I've read the BP version has relays that slave out Volume and gain control and put a fixed resistor in place for unity gain bypass mode. This happens on the separate volume/gain pcb, I believe the active channel pcb's are unchanged from the original non-bypass version. Parasound claim no sonic difference between the models and I've never read that anyone identified a sonic difference between the two versions.

I'd definitely give the JC2 at least a week powered up before making any decision.