From Schiit website:
“$279 for a relay-potentiometer, passive-or-active, Class A, zero-feedback, 100% discrete, differential, 75V linear power supply preamplifier…with remote control and a headphone out? Yes.
Welcome to Saga 2. (Oh, and for the non-audiophiles in the audience, what this means is this is an amazing device that allows you to control volume, switch sources, add gain, and listen to headphones, for a really nice price).
Saga 2 gives you everything you need to interface every source you have with any amp on the planet—RCA and XLR outputs are both on the table. Need gain? Sure, got that. Want to go passive? Do it. Got headphones? No problem. There’s also a headphone jack suitable for many of today’s best headphones.
Mindblowing Value: Saga 2 is literally the highest price-for-performance preamp we’ve ever done. We’ve added switchable gain, balanced output, and a headphone output—and reduced the price! At the same time, we retained the cost-no-object features you demand, like 64-step relay ladder volume for perfect channel matching, fully discrete, Class-A, no-feedback design, and a linear power supply.
Designed and Built in the USA: By “designed and built in the USA" this is what we mean: the vast majority of the total production cost of Saga—chassis, boards, assembly, etc—goes to US companies manufacturing in the US. Our chassis are made in California. Our PCBs are made in California or Nevada, and it all comes together in our Corpus Christi facility.”