depends on how many sources one wants to use in the system -- in the old days we needed phono stages, and then also listened to cd players, tape decks or radio tuners, which have line level outputs, so a switching preamp was a necessity
today things can be very different as a single digital streamer front end (dac output) allows a user to choose from many sources like internet radio, cd transport, tidal and so on
the truism is always that best pre is no pre, passive or active
an active pre aids the sound if there is a mismatch between the source output and the amp input, that is, the source output is too weak or has too narrow a range to drive the amp to desired volume levels
i had a bricasti m1 with remote volume control... the bricasti m1/m3 have robust, great sounding analog output stages -- if that is the sole source, i would say it is best to go without a linestage at all