Passive Pre-amp: Improves overall sound quality??

Thanks to all have been responded. I have now begun my reschooling in basic electronics.

BTW, Brownsfan: Sam's current wunderlich (I know, bad pun) is the Music First Passive pre-amps. He wants to (again) do away with all active pre-amp because of all the "nasties" they ad to the music. Yes, but at what price and convenience??

If set up correctly, a passive preamp can sound as good or better than the some of the best active preamps out there. In my system, I have a high quality stepped attenuator built into the input section of my amp. Keep the interconnect 6 feet or less from digital source to amp and make sure the input impedance of the amp is at least 10x higher than the output impedance of the source. All digital source these days have enough output voltage to drive most amps to clipping. If you listen to vinyl, it gets more complicated. This is by far the best "Preamp" I've had in my system in 25+ years.

The best preamp I've had in my system is transformer-based and available sometimes for peanuts on ebay.fr:

Search for the Redson RC-1080

Sounds real audio, it can't and to those in the passive camp that is a good thing?

I think Atmasphere presented a balanced (and correct) view. And thanks for sparing us the partial differential equations and first principles analysis of why passives are inherently at a disadvantage.

I have benefited from use of passives while building my system. Along the way I've used passive or passive mode pre's from Adcom, McCormack, Endler, and two from Promethius. I now use the superb Promethius Signature TVC which runs about $2800 new. This was an easy choice for me, because I use a single source and don't need phono. Before you jump out of your skins, I do love vinyl and may go vinyl at some point. My current fixation on digital is primarily driven by the enormous advantage on availability of music, and the fact that my ModWright Sony is so good.

I have been careful to assemble a system around using a passive for volume attenuation and I could care less about remote control. At this point, my system is pretty good. I'm willing to begin to consider using an active. I expect at some point to A/B the Coincident line stage (5-6K) against my Promethius. No remote, 2 balanced inputs, all the money goes toward capability that I will use. By all accounts, it is a terrific piece. I'll be happy to keep it if it beats out the Promethius, even by a narrow margin.

I've heard far more actives that I dislike than actives I like. I auditioned a 20K BAT preamp that was very good. I've heard some other less expensive BAT stuff I also thought was pretty good, but I'm just not sure any of it could displace my Promethius. Most of the rest I've heard left me with an authentic "no thanks" reaction. What some hear as "body," I hear as unnatural dynamics compared to live music--the absolute reference.

I respect Atmasphere's advocacy of properly executed actives. His position is based on math, yet he stipulates there is a pragmatic consideration also. What each person has to do in assembling a system is define their needs and priorities. For people who need a full function preamp, it probably makes sense to put a good bit of money into the preamp and build out.

I started out a Maggie guy on a limited budget, so utilizing a passive "on the cheap' made some sense.