I have had the opportunity to use a Placette Passive in my own system (which has evolved since purchasing it) and trying it out in vastly different system. The 2 considerations listed by Jameswei above are right on, and are of great importance when deciding whether or not to use a passive preamp / attenuator. I have found that, at least in the case of the Placette, a high gain source and a friendly (>= 100 kOhm) load at the amplifier are key, especially in the absence of impedance management circuitry and any sort of buffering (which I think would be the purist definition of a passive). In my system, which is very friendly for the Placette, the passive has been magic. In a less "friendly" system (lower output digital source and < 30 kOhm load) the results were not good. In fact, we noticed a roll off of the highs, less stable images, and rolled off bass. Thus, based on my experience I would certainly place the Placette near the top of the list, with the caveat that current system components need to be taken into consideration.
ultimate final word 3 on best passive preamp
attenuator volume control top of the line #1 winner incredible fantastic deal of the century world class a. i have started a series here and included all these words to help newbies find this thread, this is so that someone new or not so new can make this the last stop before buying a passive volume control. can those who have experience with this area share with others what passive volume control is their choice and why and also which have been a disappointment thanks these are the ones i found so far i am not endorsing any just listing what is available and by the way some of these are available as kits to be soldered some are assembled, here they are: placette, machand, goldpoint, michael percy, evs ric shultz, transcendent, bent. please don't respond if you have nothing positive to contribute i welcome criticism if it's constructive but to those snobs who can only afford kharmas god bless your little soul and hey let's all agree on something "life like" does not replace the concert hall or the live performance "life like" means similiar and not exactly the same. for those who lack awareness we all know that the speaker will not replace the real thing but we are all here trying to get closer to it.