basic passive preamp

I concur with the Mccormack Micro Line Drive preamp, own one and it is spectacular. The passive side provides dynamics like an active pre would deliver. The active side provides up to 12 db of gain and it is very good sounding as well. Steve's amps are designed to be used with passive preamps. I still own The Mccormack DNA-1 Rev B after all these years.

Yes the McCormack Micro line drive is a great potentiometer based passive, with an active stage that can be switched in as well, if your source has low output voltage, <1v. 
Trouble is the active stage is just a  Analog Devices AD712 dual-op-amp chip, not the best of audio opamps, that would be better replaced for dual OPA627's per channel on Browndog adapter boards.
And I think it's only available s/h, long discontinued now.

http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/521/#jMEKhFqoSfSA6o7j.97

Cheers George           

Thank you George for the heads up on the op amps and if a upgrade there is still available it would be worth looking into.  Let me pull a statement from Stereophile worth repeating: "The task of the designer is to come up with a preamp circuit that does the least damage to the audio signal, then add the necessary preamp functions in such a way that the purity of the signal is not compromised".

Gents - I see Luminous Audio offers an XLR equipped version of the Axiom, can anyone tell me if that represents a true balanced design?  Hoping it's not a completely ignorant question.  My very basic understanding is that just because a piece of gear is equipped with an XLR connector does not mean the design is actually balanced.  Thanks in advance.  

I wrote to Tim Stinson at Luminous Audio. He replied that the design of the XLR equipped Axiom II is fully balanced.