Active or passive?

But surely a good tube amp with a good passive will always sound better than a similarly priced active...??

First I'd have to believe that I categorically like tubes more than ss, and that's not true for many.

First I'd have to believe that I categorically like tubes more than ss, and that's not true for many.

What if the tube amp was a similarly priced good SS...?

Ive done this demo (passive vs active) many times.  

Active properly executed will outperform passive.   The reasons are many: 1) losses through all those copper coils in the passive crossover 2) losses of power, dampening factor, etc though all that speaker cable at speaker level 3) lack of phase control in passives 4) ability to control phase in active 5) passives requiring one big power amp vs active needing the exact right power for each driver element.

The differences will be mainly heard in improvements in imaging, details, bass definition, and dynamics.

Brad
ATC Consumer/Lone Mountain Audio    

Ive done this demo (passive vs active) many times.  

From your experience which actives do you think are exceptional?