Passive preamp vs. powered

There could be. Don't you have a powered pre you could A/B with? Passive pre's work great, but it also depends on a few technicalities. Since the whole idea is not to influence the source signal, there is no amplification of the source. Sometimes, depending on your amplifiers, there may be a situation where a slight boost is needed to attain best performance. You will have to experiment to get an "ear" on the situation. Placette makes one of the best passive pre's in the market. I have been looking for a RVC (remote volume control) from Placette to use with my Wyetech Opal.

I have a Creek OBH 12 Passive (with remote) and an Audio Electric Supply (AES by Cary) AE3 tubed pre. While both sound good, the AE3 makes accoustic guitars sound more like wood and vocal just sound better. You must trust your own ears.
Happy Listening

An active preamp also takes all the thought out of matching sources & amps. It's the softer easier path.

As Elizabeth said, ya gotta pay attention with a passive pre and selecting sources is more important a thing.

here's the deal, unless you've joined the 'flavor of the month' club, and you like what you're getting, keep doing what you are doing.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtains, you know, that little voice which says "Hey man, You need get another ...."

But that said... Quality is quality and always speaks for itself. Passive or active doesn't matter.

If you're looking to step up the performance level of your preamp, that's horse of a different color. But one design over another... passive vs. active... Well, I think that's a push and all you wind up with very often there is simply 'different'. One or the other is not preventing you from hearing everything you can hear from your source simply by their methodologies.

Rather than going from pass to active, go up a few levels in the same sandbox might be better.

I am with Elizabeth. I run an Adcom GFP 750 (blue board model) and can select either active or passive, so you can have the best of both worlds. I have tried running a DAC direct with no preamp, one elite preamp that cost much more than the 750, and the 750 in passive and active mode in my system, and the best synergy results from the active GFP. It really makes my system sing in a way the other configurations don't--for me at least, and that's what this hobby is all about. Of course, now I am thinking of trying a tube pre to see what that might do in the system.........enjoy the music!