Why an active preamp with Rock-N-Roll ?

I'm very happy with my Kora Eclipse. It's got great sound and great customer service!

4yanx, the Eclipse is collaborating with a Carver Lightstar
Reference SS amp and E-stats. I just installed Ram 6DJ8's (via Roger Modjeski helpful advice). My system sounds wonderful but I'm always open to suggestions on tubes. BTW, once upon a time, I had my Lightstar amp paired up with its' highly regarded stablemate, the Lightstar Direct (passive pre). As much as I was hoping that magic would happen, the dynamics just weren't there. The Kora makes everything sparkle - including my tuner. It never sounded so good. The soundstage just exploded with the Eclipse.

Tweakster, my Eclipse was manufactured in April, 2002. The latest version I believe was manufactured in August, 2002. A Kora rep stated the following:
"The model you have is the version one before the definitive, as it is today. The two main differences are, the present has a newer remote board and gain adjustment but you do have the principal up-grade which is the main board - this works on the signal path, reducing the surface noise even further. So, in terms of sonics, you can say you have the definitive version!"
No, I have not tried the Arc or Bat stuff. The results would be system dependent anyway. Good luck in your hunt!

4yanx, considering that Jeff Starr is the Kora rep to which
I was referring, this is a curious development. That paragraph in my post is a direct lift from a two week old email. I would expect that Jeff will be able to explain the apparent discrepancy. Saga to be continued . . .

4yanx, well my compliments to Jeff at Kora. He has responded
immediately with info that will help clarify this Eclipse mystery. This is typical of the great customer service that Kora provides.

"This model (April,2002) does have the Auricaps and silver wiring. As I mentioned, it doesn't have the new remote pcb but does have the current, up-graded main board, which is the most important feature, sonically. From August 2002, the new feature was the re-designed remote pcb, but this doesn't affect the signal path . . . the B (series in the serial #), being precedent to the C series, denotes the fact that it doesn't have the new main board up-grade! (the C series does reflect the upgrade board and Auricaps)"

So, it appears that are incremental upgrades to the Eclipse depending on the manufacturing date. You mentioned that there was a significant improvement between the latest model and next to latest model. Out of curiosity, how would you describe the difference.