Why go with active preamp?

A buddy of mine has a Berning ZH270 with Merlin VSM-M speakers. We listened direct to the Berning through a Bel Canto DAC 1.1 and also through his CAT pre. We both much preferred the sound through the CAT pre. Much more enjoyable to listen to. We didn't feel the sound lacked the detail, etc. It retained the detail but became more musical. That's not to say through the Berning was bad. Hardly. It sounded wonderful. Through the CAT it was more musical and enjoyable.

i have never heard a passive preamp / direct out that had sufficent bass and mid-bass response. the mid bass respsonse is very slow and puddling.

also passive is very lacking in dynamics.

take a listen to a passvie unit / direct out to a nice tube /hybrid preamp and there is no comparson.

Try a bat vk30, audible L1, AR ls2bmkII etc... the soundstage will also snap into focus.

these are decent pre-s that are less than $1000.

With a passive preamp direct you should be looking for an amp with an input sensitivity under 1 volt. I use
a Gamut D200, and a passive preamp with the D200 set at it's .775 volt input sensitivity, with 5 meters of interconnect cable between the preamp & amp. Having just tried a active preamp for comparisons, there's no lack of dynamics, resolution, bass or treble response. As Marakanetz points out the midrange presence is affected.
In my system,the active preamp moves the midrange forward
as the volume is increased. Allowing that the power amp/speaker and impedance interfaces are good, adjustable input sensitivity on the amp and variable gain controls on the preamp would allow a user to dial in the sound they want, but there aren't many products that offer that feature.

i have 2 bel canto evo 200.2 amps bridged in my system
i am thinking of buying cary 306/200 cdp with volume
control and going directly to amps.the specs on amps
are input level for full stereo output is 2 volts,cary output is 3 volts.will i lose dynamics with this setup
thanks

I have also the adcom gfa 750, when I used the passive
mode, micro and macrodynamic disappear.From my experience
I tried cd players with volume, one is from high end co.
and I also have the AH Cd player, without preamp the music
is lifeless.WADIA IS THE ONLY CD that performs very well.
Remember Wes Philip is the one who review the adcom CLASS
A,Its design by Nelson Pass if Iam correct.If i were you
I will find a weaker link on your system, I do believe
the adcom its one of the best preamp there.