I owned a Silver Rock Passive with the 0db gain. They also make one with 6db gain. It uses a completely silver wired transfomer / potentiometer. I've had other passives, and I agree with most of the comments here regarding the drawbacks of passives. But the Silver Rock has none of these issues. It is the most transparent pre-amp I've ever heard, and shows none of the weaknesses of passives. It is dead quiet, as it acts as an isolation transformer as well as a pre-amp. For more info, please read the TAS review of it where they compare it to a $15000. active, and also the TAS review of the Halcro amps where they used the Silver Rock with them. It is expensive for a passive and looks like hell, but it sounds great! I sold it because I went to a Tact (2.2X).
A bit off the subject, but I'm very surprised that Marakanetz didn't like the 2.0. I've set-up two 2.0s for friends (they don't have laptops), and the Tact is stunning. Both of these guys now agree with me that the Tact is a "must have" in any system. I also thought that the volume control was completely transparent when the Tact was used only for this purpose. We went back and forth with it in and out of the system using a passive and an active pre-amp. Perhaps you could comment further on what you didn't like about it?
A bit off the subject, but I'm very surprised that Marakanetz didn't like the 2.0. I've set-up two 2.0s for friends (they don't have laptops), and the Tact is stunning. Both of these guys now agree with me that the Tact is a "must have" in any system. I also thought that the volume control was completely transparent when the Tact was used only for this purpose. We went back and forth with it in and out of the system using a passive and an active pre-amp. Perhaps you could comment further on what you didn't like about it?