Modern Linestages

George, I Agee that todyas sources do not "need" active gain stages BUT many do sound better than passives. I've been a BIG fan of passives over the last couple of years and have used them to great effect (but never tried yours sorry to say) but until I listened to the Steve McCormick VRE-1B I didn't know what I was missing. No passive has ever given me the 3-D effect I hear from this line stage (it has only 6db of gain). I'm not saying it's accurate because who really knows what accurate is? It just let's me enjoy music like no other active or passive has ever done. Yes my Kondo M1000 pre (over $100,000) was very special but the VRE puts a smile on my face every night I listen, and that's what its all about at the end of the day.
Steve
"dealer disclaimer"

In theory a passive linestage "should" be all that`s needed with the higher output sources use these days. The reality is however in "most" systems a good active linestage simply sounds more complete and life-like, there`s more "there".

I have zero knowledge too but my guess is that power supply is always very important, be it phono stage, line level preamp or power amp. And this is probably not cheap or easy to really get it right.

The secrete to having the perfect passive attenuator without losing or adding anything to the sound of the source (being true to the source)
1: Is to make sure the sources ouput impedance is 5 x or less the attenuators input impedance.
2: To make sure the power amps input impedance is 5 x or more the attenuators output impedance.
This then will give you the sound that you would get if you pluged the source directly into the power amp, yet with control over the volume.
Cheers George

I agree with Charles1dad, yes in theory ... I bought a LSA for the summer. Use 1 week when new and 4 days 2 weeks ago and back in the box it goes. Miss my active, LSA is good but just doesn't pull me into the music, not by a long shot.