Passive preamps - differences between technologies

@ozzy62 That's what I was looking at.. Hattor the Big with AMRT resistors. I was wondering if anyone compared it to Music First Baby Reference, from what I have read most of people prefered Baby Reference against ARC Ref5/6. Still, I imagine these ARC amps to be more juicy or fluid against a passive. 

Someone also mentioned there's a guy in Hungary that makes Music First Baby Ref clones.. does anyone have an idea who might that be or what his products are called? I tried to google it without any success. 

I can't say I like the Hattor design, the logo doesn't really fit in to my eyes. But I love the Music First Audio looks. I was also considering BAT VK52-SE which is absolutely hideous so I'm all after the sound :)

Thanks for all the recommendations and sharing your experience. 

Slightly added warmth/richness would be a lot more welcomed than any loss of dynamics. 

Simply put, I'm wondering if it's worth it puchasing something like Music First Audio Classic V2 or if the technology advanced so much I'd be better off with something else (I'm only assuming that because there's apparently a big difference between V1 and V2 while the first version isn't that much older).

Townshend Allegri Reference looks absolutely amazing but it's also rare on a used market and very expensive. Maybe it's just wrong intuition but Music First Audio would be probably the best choice in terms of performance and resale value. 

My speakers are 92,5dB, power amp's input sensitivity is 300k ohms and both DAC and phono preamp have pretty strong output capabilities. Especially with the phono (RCM sensor2) I'm suffering with too much gain from the ARC LS16 preamp. Setting lower gain on the phono stage results in muddy sound when set too low. Also, I live in the city center and the mains isn't the cleanest. So I assume my system would welcome a passive preamp with open arms :)

@mrdecibel Thanks! I was under the impression that the input inpedance is the main factor to determine how friendly a power amp can be to a passive preamplifier. And also the output of a phono stage or a DAC..