Oomph or pressure?

I have an Intact Audio autoformer that uses the same autoformer as your Emia (assuming you have the copper version, not the silver).  And I also have an Emotive Audio Epifania linestage (modified) which uses a single 12B4 tube per channel.  Coincidentally I have been comparing the two over the past few days for the first time since I got the autoformer last fall. 

In my case, the autoformer and the active linestage sound very, very similar with regard to tonal balance, detail and dynamics.  In terms of tonal balance, the autoformer has a little more weight in the bass and the upper midrange is a bit dark sounding; to my ears the Emotive is just about perfect in tonal balance.  The Emotive has somewhat more refinement and delicate detail in the highs, and it has a more involving, propulsive sound.  The autoformer has a lower noise floor (as in next to no noise).  These specifics aside, on an overall basis the active and passive sound remarkably similar.  

In particular I have not noticed any lack of dynamic "oomph" at lower volumes.  That makes me question whether your source is able to drive the autoformer properly.  I have much experience over the years with resistive passive attenuators and they do have the dynamic reticence that Ralph describes above.  The Emia autoformer does not suffer from that problem.

All of the above is In My Opinion and In My System of course.

Hi Sal,
Thanks for the descriptive comparison of high quality passive and active preamplifiers in your system. Based on your descriptions of sonic characteristics I’d choose the active Epifania (if I could only have one or the other). You found it "more involving " than the passive. Musically and emotionally involvement are critical for my long term enjoyment, this is a must have quality for me.

In my opinion when ever comparing audio components the one that allows/permits more involvement in listening to music is the better component. It seems that the "Emotive Audio" is inappropriately named 😊.
Charles

Charles, I think you got the names confused.  The active preamp is the Emotive Audio Epifania so nothing inappropriate in its name.

I should emphasize that the Emia autofromer is very good by any standard.  I am somewhat splitting hairs by focusing on the differences. 

One final point.  It will take a very good active linestage to surpass the Emia/Intact Audio autoformer.  In my case, the Emotive Epifania started out as an excellent sounding preamp, but I have tweaked it to death over the past 10 years by swapping out different resistors, capacitors, chokes, and wire to find the best sounding combination.  I also eliminated the switching so it is a dedicated single-input linestage.  When I got the autoformer I followed the same approach---no switching, just a single input, and the same wires that I settled on with the Emotive preamp.  So they each have some advantage over your typical commercial products.

52tiger
Emia autoformer as my preamp. It sounds fantastic but one thing I noticed is I have to turn the volume up quite a bit to get any oomph out of it. thanks, Scott

Nothing wrong with having to do that, as Nelson Pass explains below.
Scott, passives rule!!, they are the most transparent/dynamic way of getting the source signal to the amp with control over the volume. Only better is direct source to amp (but you need a level control in the source) 

Nelson Pass,

"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.

Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.

Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.

What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.

And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."

Cheers George