Mr.Corvette and I have been conversing privately about this, and I might be able to give a few insights.
I am a mechanical engineer with motorsport, suspension design and setup experience. If anyone wants my background feel free to PM me. I do not have experience working on semi-active MR systems, but I do have a working knowledge of the systems. I'm going to try to greatly simplify this, not because forum members are not technically knowledgeable, just that it's a big topic....
Passive suspension works on Force vs. Velocity curves for the dampers where the damper generates a certain amount of resistance to motion depending on shaft speed. I can get into linear vs digressive curves/pistons etc. Adjustable shocks change the shape of this damper curve by controlling oil bypass, allowing adjustment, but the damper will still follow a fixed curve, just a new one, allowing the suspension to be adjusted to taste/requirement. Some updated systems will let you select different damper profiles (comfort vs sport) from the cockpit, but this is just switching between 2 fixed damper profiles. For road going passenger cars, most chassis work reasonably well within a "window" of damper curves. Perceived comfort is usually at the softer end of this window with perceived control at the the other. Note my use of the word "perceived" as the actual requirements for performance can nowadays be pretty closely defined using shake rigs, data acquisition (suspension histograms etc.) etc. then it's often basically a click here or there off baseline to tune for driver taste, conditions etc. with passive systems in racing. The non MR shocks in the Corvette will have well developed damper profiles that are likely somewhere in the middle of this window making a compromise between perceived comfort and control. A happy medium that won't offend and work pretty well in most conditions.
MR is completely a different concept. As many of you know instead of oil/piston/valving systems MR uses a fluid that has variable viscosity depending on the current applied to the electromagnets in the shocks. This gives a very wide damping force range that is almost instantly variable. Some other semi active systems use servo operation of an oil bypass (Porsche PASM), but this type of system is less responsive than the MR system in the Corvette. MR also has accelerometers in the suspension and in the chassis. GM/BWI in the latest generation of MR has made some great updates in terms of using accelerometers where position sensors were used, and in changing the design of the shocks themselves to better control magnetic fields. The latest system in the C8 is much faster and more precise even than previous MR systems. If anyone wants a breakdown of these advances on the latest system I can go into details.
MR works very differently to passive suspension. It's closed loop. It has algorithms that read chassis and suspension accelerations and adjusts the shocks almost instantly to produce the desired result. What is the desired result? I believe almost all MR programs are now using a variation of an algorithm called "skyhook" which aims to minimize chassis acceleration (stabilize the platform), as opposed to "groundhook" which aims to maximize tire contact. I think it was either the C5 or C6 where the more aggressive (sport or whatever) setting was groundhook and many found it harsh (because the algorithm is working to maximize tire contact, not reduce chassis motion) and the cars were actually faster around a track using the "softer" setting because it was using skyhook and drivers found it more predictable. Randy Pobst commented on that with a previous generation MR equipped Corvette at Laguna where once he selected the softer setting, the car was way better - he didn't realize it was the MR program he was changing from one based on groundhook to skyhook. As I understand, the GM MR program updates that became available from dealers replace the groundhook algorithm with a second, "sportier" skyhook one. Jim Mero offers custom MR profiles.
Because the MR damper FV profile can be adjusted almost instantly over a wide range, damping can be added or reduced as needed to both comp and rebound as needed in milliseconds. With skyhook, as the algorithm prioritizes chassis stability possibly at the expense of some tire contact, it can lead to some "wheel hop" over surface irregularities (the priority is a stable chassis), and would require an unsprung mass of 0 to work perfectly ideally (as would any car suspension!). I have a suspicion that with the Z06 they introduced the carbon wheel option because this will not only improve overall performance, but the advantages will also improve the MR performance. I think now though GM/BWI has possibly gone to a hybrid of skyhook. They keep their latest developments and programming pretty guarded. Some of what the MR system allows engineers to do on the fly during the development phase is really amazing.
Passive shocks can be tuned very well, but cannot adjust on the fly, and will be a compromise depending on the conditions/driver preferences. MR is closed loop adapting almost instantly to "read" the road and control the chassis. Remember the chassis "window" I mentioned for passenger cars? This is where the 3 settings of tour, sport, track will come in with the C8, adjusting the MR profile to optimize to either the "comfort" "middle" or "control" end of that window. The non MR system on the C8 is set to one setting that is a happy medium decided upon by GM. Remember what I mentioned about the compromises in the C8 passive damper tuning? Greatly eliminated.
Listening and reading some of Jim Mero's stuff is also great for more insights, as Jim Mero did a lot of the development work on the Corvette MR tuning I believe up to the C7. As many of you know Jim is a Nurburgring expert, and has also raced at LeMans. He says hands down he'd take MR in a Corvette at the Nurburgring. It also works better on the street/highway offering better comfort. Semi-active suspensions like the Corvette MR system are also banned in many classes of racing, and are often faster than the best tuned passive racing systems. For the $2180? option price MR offers huge advantages considering the price of some aftermarket passive systems. Replacement MR shocks also seem to be reasonably priced ($650 ea. or so?) in the event of wear/failure.
Hope it helps people understand the differences!
Some white papers for anyone wanting to go down the rabbit hole:
http://inpressco.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Paper56265-269.pdf