+1 on the importance of system synergy.
In addition to impedance related issues, it is also important to pay attention to system gain as well. You don't want to have too much or too little gain overall. Too little and obviously you aren't hitting the volumes you would like. Too much and you need to do too much attenuation. Not enough fine tuning in your volume control, and attenuator performance is usually at its worst at the low end of the spectrum.
IME, active and passive both have their strengths and weaknesses. Passives can be excellent for detail retrieval, but actives (again, IME) tend to have more dynamics and oomph. To get a preamp that had the detail I was hearing with passives and the dynamics of active linestages, I had to move to a much higher priced preamp. More tradeoffs need to be made the lower the price (though this isn't without exceptions).
But to come full circle: Yes, synergy. And your musical tastes and listening priorities also come into play here too.
In addition to impedance related issues, it is also important to pay attention to system gain as well. You don't want to have too much or too little gain overall. Too little and obviously you aren't hitting the volumes you would like. Too much and you need to do too much attenuation. Not enough fine tuning in your volume control, and attenuator performance is usually at its worst at the low end of the spectrum.
IME, active and passive both have their strengths and weaknesses. Passives can be excellent for detail retrieval, but actives (again, IME) tend to have more dynamics and oomph. To get a preamp that had the detail I was hearing with passives and the dynamics of active linestages, I had to move to a much higher priced preamp. More tradeoffs need to be made the lower the price (though this isn't without exceptions).
But to come full circle: Yes, synergy. And your musical tastes and listening priorities also come into play here too.