Interesting comment on the buffered approach Dave. I believe when John Chapman re-introduced the Tap-X with the Slagle autoformers the remote allowed you to choose from buffered or unbuffered (only on the multi-input models though). In his testing he said he couldn't distinguish a difference between the two, but his goal was obviously to allow a user to address impedance mismatches. The Truth preamp I wrote about in another thread uses photo cells and a buffered output. Output impedance is extremely low, something like 2 ohms. It supposedly can drive cables up to 30 ft. in length. It works nicely with my Atma-Sphere S-30, but as Pubul57 mentioned if you don't need the buffer, and my other amps don't, why add anything to the mix.
I agree we often forget the impact of the volume control in preamp designs. The concept of removing the volume control from the equation was what got me interested in the LSA to begin with. The LSA doesn't need a high quality volume control since the design eliminates the impact on its performance.
In this scenario the comparison of LSA to other preamps becomes more of a contest between volume controls-- which is a critical and oft-neglected determinant of a preamp's performance.
I agree we often forget the impact of the volume control in preamp designs. The concept of removing the volume control from the equation was what got me interested in the LSA to begin with. The LSA doesn't need a high quality volume control since the design eliminates the impact on its performance.