Ahhh, yes, I 'tis remember well when, lo those many years ago, 'ol Steven Stone, reviewing still for Stereophile, told us all that passive pre's would soon take over the earth, that active pre's were not, um, "transparent" enough and that, impliedly, 'ol Ken Shindo should just then pack it up...
Jeez, can one hear an echo around here?
I know, this is hardly dispositive in an empiric sense, but I know of a guy who streams only digital into class D amps - talks a lot, doesn't listen much, cognitively chatters like a monkey - and who says that his is the most "transparent" way, it just has to be, its so, um, logical.
My response? You can't describe the color purple to a blind man...