I used to think passive preamps were superior to active preamps given right the setup, but

You’ve got all the voltage gain and current you need in the sources today, as they all have the ability to overdrive all amps, any more and your just turning it down with the VC. Look at the input sensitivity of amps then look at the output of sources there is way more than you need. Cheers George

A Quote from the master Nelson Pass

Nelson Pass,

We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.

Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.

Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.

What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.

And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp.

I had also tried passive preamps, but found actives to have better bass weight and punch.  That is until I tried the Tortuga preamp.  I was surprised that the bass equaled or bettered the active preamp I owned (an ARC-REF3) with better, tighter bass, wider and deeper soundstage (with much better channel separation), and more extended & cleaner highs.  I ended up selling my REF3.

I also had a chance to compare it to another highly regarded $10k active preamp.  The Tortuga's adjustable input impedance feature (2k to 200k on the balanced one) really showed how important it is to optimize the load seen by the source.

By the way, I'm using my current Tortuga LDR1B-V2 (1 balanced input, 2 balanced outputs) to drive a biamped system with a pair of Spectron monoblocks on the bass (25 kohm) and a pair of Double Kronzilla's (with a high speed differentially balanced FET input with 100 kohm impedance).  The Tortuga is driving these just fine, still with bass power and punch and pristine mids and highs.  The balanced ICs from the Tortuga to the amps are one set of 2 meters and one set of 2.6 meters.

I'm getting a customized LDR3B-V2 with the capability to switch absolute phase on the inputs.  All this without a switch or pot in the signal path.  I'll be using my current LDR1B-V2 to attenuate the volume of the Spectrons to match the Krons.  The Spectrons need to be attenuated by around 4 to 6 dB.