to volume pot or not to volume pot

If you want versatility down the road,I'd go for it.

Won't the volume pot function as an adjustable gain ? This might be convenient!!

"The EAR's voltage gain measured 49.2dB moving-magnet, 68.2dB moving-coil. These are very high values, particularly for the MM; typically, the gain in MM gain stages is 35–40dB, and 55–65dB in MCs. I don't anticipate this high gain to cause any problems, but I'd check to make sure that it won't overload my line preamp"----Thomas J. Norton

If you can't hear the difference with a pot and an extra inch of wire in the path then maybe your system/ears are not very resolving.

Having said that the flexibility of having the volume pot still may be well worth the price. Having the option of running direct is very compelling.

Most of the negative impact of inserting the volume pot can be avoided by setting the control at the maximum position. At the maximum setting it is more like a switch contact than a pot.

I agree with Elizabeth. If you plan on using the EAR with a seperate pre, buy the one without the volume pot. In any system with better than average resolution the difference will be very audible. Simpler signal path will almost always yield superior sound. A big part of the brilliance of the EAR's design is, in fact, it's simplicity. Why muck it up unnecessarily?.

BTW, I use the EAR with a passive with exceptional results. It's all about good matching of all components in the system. I suspect that the reviewer that you allude to was making the point that the version with the volume control was the better sonic choice, IF you were NOT going to use a seperate pre.

Simple volume controls can be a significant cause of distortion. It all depends on the circuit and the components. The worst, and most usual type, is a cheap wire-wound pot, inserted on the hot side of the input. Such a control has balance problems, inductance problems, resistance problems, etc. Wiring it on the ground side and using a fixed resister on the hot side improves things considerably. Other modifications and innovations are numerous. How a volume control circuit is executed makes all the difference.