Poll - Active vs. Passive preamp

Depends. I've used both with success over the years. If I had to fall off the fence, I'd lean towards active.

Does buffering the "passive" address the issues of soundstage and dynamics? I would think with no need for gain, that they typical passive "flaws" are due to impedance mismatches between source and amp - or is there something else going here with power reserves that act like torgue in better driving the signal?

You should direct your questions to John Chapman on the AudioCircle/BentAudio forum or look at the older DIYAudio site. He will probably say that a buffer isn't necessary for most systems.

If you could hear my system with a passive, there wouldn't be any question about dynamics and bass. However, I'm still dreaming about replacing the DAC/output section of my CDP with a discrete JFET Borbely buffer, imagining one ohm output impedance.

John does indicate the new Bent TAP has buffered input settings, but one should rarely find them to sound better than the non-buffered setting since most sources used today will have enough output voltage to drive the passive.

I believe the new Pass B1 has buffered outputs and addresses what I think is a more important issue with the ability of the passive to drive the amp, primarily due to component and/or cable impedance mismatching. It's my belief that any lack of bass or drive from a passive is primarily due to these issues. If a buffered output solves this then perhaps we're on to something. IIRC Burson makes a buffer stage that has been very well received, but unlike the Pass I do not beileve it offers a volume control.

As to whether a tube buffer or solid state buffer works best, I really can't venture to say since I've tried neither. I'm also not aware of a tube buffer with a volume control.

I think an early version of the Music Fidelity had tube buffer with volume control. This is something Roger Modjeski is looking into, and it sounds like Ralph K. is as well - should be interesting as the theory makes sense. I'll say the active Placette which is essentially a volume control with a very robust buffer stage sounded much better to me than the "nude" RVC. What I don't understand is the technical difference between using a buffer for impedance matching and the use of a transformer/autoformer.