Passive preamp w/Rogue Medusa and Rega DAC

Thanks to all for the replies. I have been reading the massive LS Attenuator thread with great interest. (I will probably get to the end of it by 4th of July). I would love to try it but the only catch for me is that I need a remote control.

I think a reasonable path would be to try the cheapest passive I can find in my system. If it works and I like the nature of what I am hearing, I could then upgrade to a better passive and keep the cheaper one as a back-up. (while selling my current pre-amp).

Even if I don't like it, trying one is definitely something I should experiment with.

Thanks for the great responses on this thread. I definitely want to try a passive. I have arranged to borrow a simple volume pot to put in my system to see if the gain is sufficient. If it is, then I will pursue a better one to try out.

I would love to try the Lightspeed but my listening room is in the family room so a remote is essential.

The concept of the passive makes so much sense. In my case, the preamp is not in the same class as the rest of the gear so the benefits could be substantial.

Very interesting points about going straight from the DAC to the amp. One thing that I need is a really good remote control. I haven't done the research but I think that may be hard to find. This is something I should look into further.

The idea of a passive never occurred to me until recently when I upgraded the connections between my MacMini to the Rega. I got more detail but I also started hearing more glare. My initial thought is that the preamp was probably more to blame than the Rega. Going with a passive would be affordable and take the Acurus preamp out of the equation. As a bonus it would let me put more of my budget to upgrading the DAC in 2015.

Like most people, budget is a major issue for me. My original plan was to save up and spend 1.5K sometime next year on a good tube preamp. The year after that, I planned to upgrade the Rega DAC - by then I will have a good feel for how to address DSD (do I want it or not).

I may still go down that path but it seems that investigating a good passive (or finding a DAC to go direct to the amp) are worthwhile things to look at.

In the meantime, I will be borrowing a passive to determine if using one is even feasible in my system. Thanks for all the comments. This has been a great thread!

Well, I made the leap. I replace my modded Acurus RL-11 with DIY passive that uses the Tortuga LDR3V2 board. I received it this weekend and gave it a trial run Saturday and Sunday. My first reactions were mixed. Because I was juggling taking care of the kids and getting used to the remote I didn’t really get a good feel for the sound but I will say that I wasn’t bowled over right out of the gate.
The second night I was able to sit down and really dig in. I am not a reviewer but my impressions were:

1) Lower noise floor – I listen to a lot of live Grateful Dead and this was particularly noticeable on several live recordings.

2) Increased detail

3) Better tone and timber - on jazz recordings, horns and saxes seemed more pure and free flowing. Additionally some glare was removed from my system.

This was exactly what I was hoping for. One thing that I did realize is that the Acurus has a great remote. I am going to order an Apple remote to see how I like it.

I was looking for some of the typical characteristics that critics of passives highlight. Other than not liking the remote as much, I didn’t sense any deficiencies. Maybe I will in the future but for now I am very happy with the decision to go this route. This is a great component to build a system around. The money saved from upgrading the preamp can now be put into a DAC upgrade somewhere down the line.

Again, thanks to all the responses on this thread. This has been a significant upgrade for relatively minor dollars that will give me much listening pleasure going forward. I may post some more impressions after further listening