This paper presents an analysis of efficiency for passive magnetic gear resulting from the selection of materials and structures in the magnetic circuit. A particular attention is paid to the structure of modulator, which forms the crucial element of the system, and which can be designed in a variety of ways. In this paper, the considered alternatives include a modulator design manufactured from soft magnetic composite material and from circumferentially and axially stacked lamination. Based on the experimentally determined efficiency versus load curves, the study demonstrates that the soft magnetic modulator has similar performance as for the case of a circumferentially and axially stacked lamination. The physical reasons of this result are explained by means of the finite element analysis of magnetic flux waveforms in the crucial parts of the systems.