I went through a stage in my Audio life where I was convinced that a passive would be better. On paper it seem to make sense, I had also read Nelson pass comments on the subject and was determined to make it work. However contrary to what George would have you believe, 90% of the time it does not sound better. I would put the percentages at the exact opposite of what he is stating. My results mirrored the OPs experience, it sucked the life out of the music. You end up with a highly detailed rendition with no body and lacking in bottom end. We had an evening at my place with a Bottlehead beepre, an antique sound labs passive and a Teo passive. The TEO was probably the best I had heard out of a passive but was definitively behind the Bottlehead. The antique sound labs was producing and odd artefact in the base which was causing it to sound very bloated. This was an anomaly as I had heard that unit sound very good in another set ups. We suspected and impedance mismatch but didn't look into it much further. The Bottlehead was definitely more realistic sounding
But I agree that all should experiment and satisfy their own curiosity.
But I agree that all should experiment and satisfy their own curiosity.