Preamp Noise with High-Efficiency Speakers

they do not all sound like straight wire with gain (uncoloured) otherwise they would all sound the same and there would have been no reason for you to buy hundreds

Pretty much any component in one's rig has a sound of its own, i.e. is "colored". This includes also the cables, which you keep on bring up as your reference. Can you be more specific and tell us which brand of wires are you talking about?

All preamps sound different,Yingtonggao this is why you've bought hundreds?? they do not all sound like straight wire with gain (uncoloured) otherwise they would all sound the same and there would have been no reason for you to buy hundreds.
As they are all coloured in some way and not true to the sound of the source you are looking to find the colouration you prefer. Just these two statements of yours have basically said to me just that.

Another thread, still missing the point.

People don't just listen to a DAC but a system of components. Every component is colored and has a sonic signature. They mix and match to get proper synergy. It's possible they don't like sound of DAC with just straight wire/gain but only in a system because of synergy. I'm sure you can build a very nice system with a passive pre. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

With all the hype, I bought a Lightspeed Attenuator. It's good but NO comparison to my active pre. The active has superior imaging with well defined edges, 3D, dynamics, vivid, color ...

My active pre is relatively expensive, it's GREAT value with the quality of sound it produces. Same with my speakers, relatively expensive but I prefer over speakers costing 2X+ ... Components don't have to be low price to be good value IMO.

To his credit although Atmasphere (Ralph) is a manufacturer, with a vested interest in his own gear, I find his responses to be intelligent and open-minded.
George is basically insisting that his way is the only way- and that is just wrong.
FWIW, I experimented with bypassing the line stage and running directly from a phono pre into the amps (It was a Steelhead, which has more circuitry than a stand-alone passive pre, but the overall concept is similar and I've since replaced it with something a little more antiquarian, using LCR and transformers, along with old telephony tubes, which to my ear sounds better). Although the bandwidth was great, bass to die for, the presentation sounded threadbare and very 'hi-fi.' Introducing a good line stage into the mix added a level of heft and palpability that I associate with real instruments. Changing line stages last year upped the ante even more -going from the Lamm L2 to the Veloce (Lithio or version 2). Piano is a hard instrument to reproduce. For years, we had a big Bosendorfer downstairs. I know what a real piano sounds like. It's a beoytch to reproduce, and beyond the gear is the quality of the recording, how the instrument is miked, how the record is mastered, etc.
So much is source and system dependent, and so many other variables make up a system, I just can't buy into 'my way or the highway' approach to hi-fi.
Sorry George, you've lost me on this thread.

Knghifi and Whart,
This improved weight,heft,palpability,3D,dynamics,vividness you hear, well you guys just like pleasant colorations.Never mind that it sounds closer to live instruments,doesn`t matter. If you don`t hear it as george does,you`re wrong. Why is that so hard for you guys to understand.Grannyring and Knghifi(and others) purchased his passive and preferred their active preamp,wrong choice guys.Why be silly and choose the component that sounds more realistic,who wants that anyway?

Charles- I'm open to learning, considering other approaches and contributing where I can. I can also enjoy a good debate, but after too many years on the intraweb, don't have any interest in sniping, at George or anybody else. I enjoy (and enjoy sharing) the excitement of discovery, the fundamentals of 'best practices' in set-up, the detective work of trouble shooting (not easy in void of hyperspace) and fiddling with tweaks that don't cost a fortune. I also enjoy hearing from others who consider this an adventure. There are many here that seem to approach things the same way- they don't discount novel or antiquarian approaches ( although there may be some legitimate skepticism); but, at bottom, folks here are often willing to jump in and spend real time, thought and energy to help somebody troubleshoot a problem or answer a question. (I've certainly benefitted from that over the years here).
As somebody put it in relation to a discussion about the sonic differences among various pressings of the same record, it is still more art than science in a lot of ways, even though sound engineering principles should underlie what we do.
I'm not dumping on George, but find the endless drum beat to be monotonous, and ultimately, counterproductive, at least for me.