Best preamp is no preamp: always true?


There seems to be a school of thought that between two well-designed (read no major flaws) CDP and AMP, the best PREAMP is NO PREAMP at all (let's assume that the AMP has a sort of minimalist volume control).

Is this a solid and robust statement? What would be situations where this is not true (still no major design flaws)?
newerphile1cf0

Showing 1 response by sugarbrie

My preamp is the heart of my system. I cannot imagine not having it. It creates the overall sound signature for my system that I like. I would have a sonic mess without that control over the sound.

Remember that if a CD player has a volume control, it basically has a very simple preamp built-in.

Try plugging a turntable, tuner, and other devices directly into the amplifier and let us know how it goes... The turntable even needs a separate preamp before regular the preamp.