DAC DIRECT IN TO AMPLIFIER OR TO PREAMPLIFIER

We can have words and concepts learned by minimal acoustic experiments in our room..

Then we "dont know what we dont know" but we can guess it by listening our speakers/room ...

There must be a balance between all acoustic factors for exemple for a brass orchestra timbre of trumpets ,french cor , tuba, trombone, to be experienced rightfully with clear distict timbre tone playing in a spatial clear distibutions and transients and dynamic and the "rise-duration-decay time " and all the spatial distribution and extent qualities in 3-D...And we must learn how to control these acoustics factors in our room...

Then " i dont know what i dont know " it is true but i did not have so much ignorance as 12 years ago when i did not understood and perceived yet the contribution of each acoustic concepts ... But i learned them by experiments and how to control in some degree and act on them for better and worse...

then you are right :

Let your ears determine what sounds best after you run thru the many different configurations.

But i know even if i never listen to it yet what could be my best upgrade and why and how...there is a minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold and i reach it at low cost and i am more than happy... It takes lot of hard work and years of experimenting to reach it... Most people dont do that...They then catch upgraditis...And they, in an opposite way to me, suggest branded name of gear they own for upgrade not acoustic and electrical and mechanical embeddings as more fundamentals with the necessary gear synergy as i do ...

For sure we must learn and buy and make mistakes... I did for years ... But my point is that we will makes more mistakes and create more unsatisfaction if we dont learn basic embeddings controls... Acoustics being the most important... Dac upgrade is half the time unnecassary.. People do it because they dont know how to reach synergy and they dont learn any acoustics concepts by EXPERIMENTING...

I say that because i did exactly this BEFORE experimenting and learning...

My post made sense ONLY for people with a limited budget and people who cannot afford to buy illimited dac pieces or gear pieces to try them... Experimenting may cost nothing, but it cost much in time and in reading, this is why few did it...This does not change the fact i spoke about :  audio is about synergy and especially embeddings controls not about costlier piece of gear... 😊

Clever post thanks worldwidewholesales...

There is different audio system and synergy and price level,  a rule as : always add a pre-amp or :  never add a new component in the chain, such rules  make no sense...

I dont need a pre-amp myself, some others can benefit from one... There is NO RULE HERE , there exist different gear synergy, different acoustic conditions and environment...

Rule number one : dont invent a useless rule make a useful experiment and learn from it...😁

My Sansui alpha integrate , a vintage product from 35 years ago i used for my headphone, i decided to upgrade from it with one of the best reputed and reviewed tube amplifier for headphone or efficient speakers and pre-amplifier in the world for his price...One month ago...

I return it on the spot after one hour listening ( he was in used state from the manufacturer ) ... No comparison at all between the two amp. for serving my hard to drive and picky AKG K340 gem, i lost a lot of money for me in the process, postal fees, insurance and customs...300 bucks...

😊

But i learned that all is about synergy and a vintage marvel could be not an obsolete piece of trash but a top product even today...

Then it is useless to proclaim rule as tube amp are better or pre-amp are necessary etc... Too many exceptions...

it is better to proclaim as absolute a rule as : synergy rule ...

Then if the integrate is top notch no need to buy a pre-amp...

If the integrate is less top notch now you must match the pre-amp and the amp, and who knows replace your integrated simply by a better one...