carlsbad2 = this man said it absolutely right.
pre-amp = long time ago, when only phono signal was only a source (with am, fm radios), the signal was too weak, so pre-amplification was needed before any power amp.
no more we need the pre. b/c any dac or cd player makes signals strong enough. now, we have to change the name of ¨pre-amp¨ to ¨control amp¨.
maybe, ¨control amp with slight signal modification¨.
it is truly sad there are people who like the modified sound !!!
when you eat some bbq meat, somebody likes a bbq with lots of sauce. actually the guy enjoys the sauce rather than the meat itself.
go and listen real live music, then you can realize that how much your home audio sound different from the live sound, in terms of vividness.
rich sound = usually, original sound + artificial sound produced by audio electronics as a by-product, usually base frequency.
whenever i hear somebody likes the rich sound improved by a new pre-amp, i have no intention to talk with the person.