id say the best ambient techno is machine blues/soul (as in, directly in that black American rnb lineage, not soul as a universal trait.) perhaps the last time that sort of thing could be valid for us in the UK... Whereas with trance it's an unknowing escape. it's all squiggling curling arpeggios
and maximum euphoria. there's not much somber to trance, maybe a little bit of a rare dark rush with certain tunes (which are the 10 best trance tunes.) Dark euphoric trance was never really explored. anyway back to the electronic blues.