Music First Audio Passive Magnetic Preamplifiers?

I've heard the copper and silver versions of the MFA. They sound great but, yes, very overpriced. You have so many more options if passive is what you want. I had the Bent Autoformer preamp and absolutely loved it. Much cheaper than MFA. Others to consider: Placette and Django. Also I understand the Dodd is very special (which is battery powered, I think).

I own the MFA copper classic and the MFA Reference. They are worth every penny IF you value sound. I have directly compared it to the latest Tube Research Labs $35k preamplifier and the classic walked away from that unit. I have also c impeded it to the $20k (latest version) Concert fidelity Pre ( which at this point is to my ears the finest active line stage I have heard) and while the Concert Fidelity was better than the Classic; the classic certainly was not embarrassed. The classic lost out also to the $24k audio research anniversary unit but again..., it was not an embarrassment. The latest Allnic with the upgraded transformers was no contest at all and that unit was $12k.

Value is in m opinion not just the sum of the parts, but also the intellectual property that went into a thing and also..., can I get that same sound and build quality somewhere else.

Now the Ref is just iin another league altogether and if you haven't heard it or been able to do real head to head comparisons in the same system at the same timel.., I would suggest you know not what you are talking about.

I have searched a long time for reference pieces and for me these two units are amongst the best I have heard.

I would rank as follows
Concert fidelity (latest) = MFA Reference 20k and 16k respectively
Audio Research Anniversary $24k
Karan reference mkII ~$21k
MFA Classic copper ~$2.9k

Oh yeah, my classic does NOT have the mk II transformers. I'm sending it back to MFA for the upgraded xformers and the remote option. Im also having a custom bypass switch installed so I can do comparisons more easily between different digital volume controls i.e. Pure music, Audiophileo....etc.

The MFA is said to sound very much like the BENT Audio passive when it used the S&B transformers, I thought the Slagle autoformer version - the BENT TAP-X - sounded even better if you can believe it, and better yet the Lightspeed Attenuator. Given the equipment you have been listening too, I know you could easily try the LSA - not full featured or anything, but for sound? I've not heard a better passive.

I built a passive for my bench testing of audio equipment Ive built (amplifiers and such) using shallco and roderstein mkII resistors. I had a buddy visit my uncle who was using my passive and he commented that it sounded exactly like the LSA. He owns the LSA but I have never heard the LSA with my own ears so i can't second his opinion. I can say that I would rather listen to my classic or Ref MFA units than the resistive passive I built :)

Honestly I'm not knocking the LSA but i probably will not go out of my way to audition it either. I love the fact that the MFA units will inherently convert a S.E. signal to a balanced signal as well.

Perhaps my uncles buddy will bring his LSA by one day in which case illl haul the classic over :)