It is a optocoupler changes resistance depending on the intensity of the LED. However, the resistor that is soldered in, is a special Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) which according how much light is shone on it by a LED can vary it's resistance, so you can have control over the level of music by controlling the amount of brigtness of the LED by a pot which varies the voltage going to the LED.
Because the resistor is solder in, there is no contact point along the signal path giving better sonic, at least in theory.
Can buy the optocoupler in RS. ALso very cheap. I will try.
I think having a stable power supply is important. May be use UCC power supply for that. Also since all photocoupler are arranged in parallel, the instability of the power supply is affecting all optocouplers equally at the same time as long as they are matched. So, the chance of imbalance is less...