Impedence Matching Help Needed

Thank you for the great answers, especially Al for the phono cartridge info. My phono carts (pickering xv-15, shure m91ed, and AT95e...@ 5.5, 5.0, and 3.5mV respectively). So, they probably wouldn't drive the amp well enough after passing through the mani.

I'm leaning away from passive after reading your comments.

I have a yaqin ms-12b I can use as a tube buffer that should simplify this whole idea for now. With this I could bypass the schiit mani altogether since it has a phono section. I'll get an active preamp down the road, I'm just paranoid that they try to 'do too much' and arent neutral. I'm on a budget so a used NAD or new Onkyo might suffice. My goal is clean refined sound that doesn't have the harsh highs or bass bloat associated with cheap gear. Speakers are dynaudio and are great. It feels like a good preamp is the last piece of the puzzle.

So, I’ve been searching far-and-wide for a $300-$400 active preamp that will do the trick. So far I’ve been looking at integrated’s with preamp outputs because they are affordable (ie.. onkyo preamp only $1200, onkyo intergrated with preamp outputs $400). SUCH a huge difference in price and I can only think it’s because separates tend to have a richer customer base. I’m sure there are ’some’ audible improvements between these two, but I doubt it’s 4X’s.

I couldn’t find much in the used marantz, denon, or yamaha with preamp outs. All of their intergrateds have ’line out’ or ’recorder out’. However, Onkyo and Pioneer (same company) seem to have some mid-level integrateds with preamp outs.

Now it comes down to something like a NAD C 162 used or an Onkyo A-9150 new (both come in under $400).

The onkyo’s preamp outputs are 1V the NAD’s are 17V. That seems insane to me. I wonder if one would be a better match for my Parasound 2125 amp than the other. The amps input impedance is 33K ohms and input sensitivity is 1V. I’m guessing the Onkyo will perform as well as the NAD since BOTH meet the 1V input requirement? I’d rather have the newer product since I’d probably get a bit paranoid with an NAD that has 13 year old parts in it. The NAD is currently on eBay for around $300. The Onkyo can be had for a little more and is getting good reviews so far. The nice thing about an integrated with pre-outs is I can move it to another room as a complete system down the road.

More info: My speakers are Dynaudio and I am sensitive to overly harsh highs that come with cheap electronics. Sources are NAD cd player, laptop streaming Netflix, and 30 year old Technics turntable.