Unity gain with tube buffer?

Ralph, assuming enough gain (I don't seem to need any based on my previous experience with passives)is there a reason that an active stage with gain would sound better? It seems to me that less is more if it is enough.

Sounds like an elegant solution for digital sources - less complexity should be better, or at least the idea of simplicity appeals to me.

Hi. If Promethius makes what I'm looking for, Idon't see it on their website.

If Ralph builds one I will definitely be interested, especially since one of my amps is a pair of Atma-spheres and I assume it will have balanced connections. Clio9, I also spoke with Roger Modjeski who said he is looking into building just such an amp as well, and wood matched with my RM9SE -- so I may very well end up with an Atma and Music Reference version of these "tube buffer" amps. The Pass B1 Buffer pre we saw at RMAF was pretty impressive with the F5 amp. As an aside (the more I hear about your Kinesis speakers the more interested I am, they souned fantastic with the Atma-speheres at the show)

It just seems to me (complete electornic laymen) that if passives are better than actives in those areas where they are better, that a passive with buffer (Placette Active for example)would be better than active in those areas as well -especially if the buffer is battery powered (less distortion with no gain stage circuitry, and great S/N being off the grid). Ralph's argument for the active seem to be generally based on the ability to control and drive the interconnect - I'm not sure why this buffered approach would serve that purpose without the need for gain that is not generally needed for digital sources.

Ralph, does your comment about TVCs and I assume ATVCs as well apply to pure attenuators passives (resitor-based) as well, or are they hopelessly compromised in terms of getting impedance matching optimized in most systems?

If you desing a unity gain buffered preamp, what difference might there be between a tube buffer versus a SS buffer - are they both equally effective, does a tube buffer create a tube like preamp sound? What is the difference between the buffered approach and TVC/AVCs?

How does using the Isabella without gain compare with using it with gain? I'm working on the assumption that the process of gain can only damage the source signal and if you avoid gain stages, you do yourself a favor assuming a proper impedance match between source and amp -- with or without a buffer. I just don't understand how adding gain to a signal, only to attenuate can possibly sound better than a signal that does not go through all that gain - how it can it possibly help matters assuming sufficient volatage form the source to drive the amp to full power. I've heard arguments regarding the controlling of various ICs which can present a capacitive problem for certain equipment, but isn't that addressed by having a buffer (tube or SS)?

I'm going to continue this thread on the Poll Active versus Passive thread to avoid duplication.