Are passive preamps better?

Interestingly, I had the Placette RVC and the "Active" which I owned between a CAT,Lamm, and now a Joule. The Placette's were excellent (we are hairsplitting between some very fine equipment), though I preferred the Placette "active"(it has no gain, but a buffer to ensure it can match with pretty much any load). Given that, I still ended with the Joule as it made the music more organic and more full bodied than the Placette approach (one of the finest IMHO); whether I prefer "distortion" or not I don't know, nor care, I'm more engaged with the music through the Joule. Maybe it is the difference between hearing into the recording and hearing into the performance - if that makes any sense.

I'm not sure if proper matching would really address what did not totally satisfy me with the passive, as the Placette Active has no mathcing issues (except possibly gain with some systems) and it was clearly better than the RVC in my system, not close in my view; it will satisfy many listeners. Experiment - but I do think the input impedance of most tube amps is proabably an important issue to good "matching".

Passive worked for me but I carefully selected a CDP and amps to match. Half volume will shake the house. First impression was incredible tranparency but that something was missing. After going back and forth between SS. tubes and passive several times, all the passive was missing in this combo was noise, distortion and embellishment.

Talk Thunder 3.1b - 4.2V XLR/ <100 ohms
DIY TVC (Bent/S&B) 0 gain
dual, bridged Plinius SA100 - over 38 dB gain
Genesis 350's - 96 dB
combined with the Genesis servo - that's a lot of wattage

A really good active preamp will actually be more transparent than a passive preamp for all of the reasons mentioned by Albert.

Using a passive preamp places demands on source components that they are often not ready to meet. Even with the rare capable source and good impedance match, a passive unit is a pure impediment or drag on the source and the signal with no upside.

I will go a step further and say that in the best systems the preamp is often more of a determining factor than the power amp in the overall sound quality of the system.

When I asked the question, the passive seemed more logical to me. Now the active seems more logical. I'm sure I will experiment when I have the opportunity. I think the 7.1 is probably 22k (just got in from delivering a calf and am too lazy to look it up). H/k usually is although this one is Madrigal. Thanks for the interesting disscussion. Will research Placette and Manley and Joule for sure. Don't stop. It's very interesting. Lynne

I have Wyetech Topaz 211 tube mono amps and had the Placette pre in my system for several months and although I appreciate what it does , it was a sheer pleasure to replace it with a good active ( Audion 2-box linestage ).
The music is now alive with lots of impact .