There's a lot of truth in what you say but there's too much 'sounds good to me' in audio which is ultimately fine for each individual but there are products that do allow suppression of belief on great recordings and there's almost universal agreement active ATCs are superior to passive ones.
I have never experienced passive ATC40s(which will vary from amplifier to amplifier) but I lived with a pair about 8 years ago for over a month and they were special.