I have never found an active preamp to sounded better in context of my system. My theta gen. va has alway sounded best with a passive unit to the cary 805c. Details I was accustomed to were missing with active preamps. The two dogs on Roger Waters, Amused to death, would turn to one dog. If I Knew dogs, I could tell which breeds with the passive unit. This was not true with the active preamps I have tried. I will not name them because I have heard them sound great in the context of friends systems. You must try them yourself and discover your cup of tea. maybe the gen Va with 3.5 volts of output is all the 805c need being they only need 1 volt for full output. It could also be I am ignorant of other qualities I am missing. Please Keep me ignorant because my system sound great.
Preamp or Not to Preamp?
Have very expensive equipment, over $50k invested. But found myself strictly listening to digital on the main system. In the past went direct out with Wadia(about 5 yrs ago before the 800 series), and never had enough explosion of soundstage. Tried passive preamp, and just too week for bass. Want to loosen up some money tied up in the system. Using a Reference 2 line stage by Audio Research. Have the AR 600s mono-blocks, and just go with another Wadia digital out?? I could be saving thousands if I dumped the preamp.