Passive Preamps

However from a perspective that seeks accurate audio reproduction there is no question that active amps are better.
Shadorne (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

I would like to hear a debate between you and Steve McCormack on this issue.

Tholt, not necessarily.

Lrsky votes for an active preamp. I give props to Lrsky's recommendations.

Yet, I own a passive preamp (SMc Audio VRE-1).
Tvad (Threads | Answers)

My point was that Phaelon advocated your opinion, which was advocating Lrsky's opinion. It had nothing to do with what you yourself owned or even personally thought on the matter.

Tholt, my point was that you are not necessarily 1 against 3. I think Lrsky
knows what he's talking about when it comes to audio, yet I don't presently
subscribe to his general recommendation of an active preamp over a passive
preamp, and I was using my situation to explain why this is so.

I thought my post was supportive of your use of a passive, but perhaps I
misunderstood something in your string of posts.

TVAD,
I'm thinking of the 6 Blind Men and the Elephant...all different perceptions.
If I heard your particular passive with your system I may do a complete 180 in my thinking. While I've been exposed to probably more gear than most people I tend to come of as preachy--god I hate when I do that. But for me to categorically say that passives aren't as good is pretty dumb headed of me. In my experience, with the combinations I've heard, I've always prefered an active--I may need more and different comparisons to be won over.

Guys, I'm not one who believes there is a uniformly best anything for any
particular situation. There are always trade-offs to a design, and there are far
too many differences among listener preferences.

I will agree that an active preamp provides easier integration into a wider variety
of systems due to impedance matching and amplifier sensitivity, and in my
experience, not that it means a damn thing, an active preamp has usually
provided a larger "jump" factor to the music. Now, whether this
"jump" factor is faithful to the recording is another matter, but it's
not always a priority to some listeners.