fine
Maybe audition or borrow some good quality active pres before committing to passive, just to get an understanding of what they can do. Many sources really don't have enough clean fast power to properly buffer cables and low impedance amp inputs by themselves. If signal passes through a load with insufficient current it will be changed, and cannot be restored by stout power stages later in the chain. The low level signal preservation is the most critical thing and having plenty of current buffering around helps more than pristine silver wire, teflon caps blablabla, none of which can source current, they only mitigate losses. You need both for high end audio quality, clean signal path, and fast current sources. The best preamps have enormous power supplies to get enough headroom to buffer low level signals with no transient distortion at all. Few sources have that kind of fast power supply. An active preamp is gives an easy load to those wimpy source buffers to prevent signal loss on the way to the preamp, and then provide enough juice to drive anything that might come after without distortion. Active preamp is essential to me, but the best are very expensive. The best actives are better than any passive solution. The mid priced active preamps often pervert the signal audibly while buffering it which is why the passive craze has taken off, it is price driven, and gives a better sounding attenuation than pots used in mid priced active pres. But building your own active preamp can tilt the money/quality equation in your favor. A great quiet circuit like Aikido with lightning fast battery or Paul Hynes regulated power supply, and Goldpoint or LDR attenutation and some thoughtful shielding can get you into the $5000+ preamp category for <$1000.
Rich
