2. amps-preamps
  3. 126097-68724

Best Preamp - NO preamp... (?)

A few hours ago I decided to experiment and bypassed my highly regarded, excellent passive preamp and hooked up my PS Audio DSD DAC directly to the power amp.
There is no going back...
Every aspect of the sound has improved so dramatically that I'm simply blown away. I'm a bit shocked, playing CD after CD and I still can't believe it.
My phono stage has gain control as well, so it seems that from now on it will be disconnecting RCAs and plugging each in turn.
Since I usually do vinyl day or cd day (or week) anyway, the trouble seems totally worth it. Letting the cable settle in for a bit is not an issue.
Am I just crazy or are any of you doing the same?
Should I be concerned about damaging  the RCAs over time?
Thanks for your thoughts and experience. :-)
ami

Showing 2 responses by jorgjean

jorgjean
78 posts
 
Point taken.
jorgjean
78 posts
 
I was running a Benchmark DAC3 HGC directly into 2 AVM M30 Monoblocks. Very Cost efficient as the Benchmark has the Preamp onboard. By recommendation of Benchmark I was considering to ass their HPA4. I ended up adding the Hegel P-20 instead for aesthetic reasons. 

All I can say that it improved the SQ massively. Much bigger, much deeper, more refined. Basically the preamp section of the Benchmark 3 is replaced which the much more substantial Hegel preamp and the Benchmark DAC running in DAC mode improves performance aswell.

In my case the adding of an additional component has made a significant change in the overall system, in the desired direction.

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