Why no remote?

Sometimes it's not just economics, it's a compromise or lack thereof. Some are not willing to compromise the sonics, no matter how small, for convenience. From what I can tell, most of the best pre-amps do not have a remote. i.e. Asthetix Callisto, Wyetech Opal, Foundation Research V-6, just to name a few.

Sometimes, it's a philosophy only. The mfg'er's attenuation and sonics are not the best and sometimes far from it, but buy eliminating the remote, they believe they'll appeal to the so-called audio 'purist'.

But if transparency and resolution and a remote are the attributes for your ideal pre-amp, then you should take a look at the Placette passive and active linestage preamps. placetteaudio.com or placette.com. Guy Hammel of Placette incorporates a generic Sony universal remote and to my knowledge has not compromised anything to achieve his performance goals.

I recently owned the Placette Active, and it was an excellent performer. I could hear a musical note just decay forever into the noise-floor, not to mention an added smoothness, continuity, and/or liquidity to the presentation.

However, it did not meet all of what I seek for in a preamp and I don't believe the Placette is for everybody or for every system.

But Placette is among the best at what they promote and do.

-IMO

Albertporter, would you care to go into a bit of detail about your thoughts on the Callisto?

And did you happen to see a mfg'er named Foundation Research at CES? They have a $6k preamp called the 'V6' that apparently has made quite an impression at shows in the Toronto area. Alas, no remote.

Much appreciated,