Do I need pre-amp? Upgrade amp or buy pre-amp? Audionote system


Hello everyone,

I have a strange question.. Tried googling, but found a number of various answers but still not to the point where all is clear.

Currently I own Audionote P3 Silver amplifier which has integrated volume control, play music through it without any pre-amp, sounds great, no issues. I was thinking to upgrade it to a better AN amp, but upgrade would cost around the same as a good pre-amp. My question is - do I upgrade to a better amp or purchase pre-amp and use it with current amp?

AN has Meishu line, which as I understand has a built in pre-amp, so theoretically, Meishu should sound better than P3 despite being same line just because it comes with integrated pre-amp?

Thanks!
execine

Showing 5 responses by execine

Currently i do not have any pre-amp thus the question whether I should spend my money on a pre-amp or just upgrade the amp, money is approx the same..

Speakers are Audionote AN-E SPE HE.

p.s. I only listen Tidal through streamer if that does make any difference, no LP, no CD
Thank you! I had no ideas to upgrade to Meishu, but a new P3 Silver Tonmeister. 
So you recommendation is to go with preamp. M3?
This is what I read everywhere, though the question - should I spend 6-8k on an amp upgrade or same money on a pre-amp. Will spending that money on pre-amp make bigger difference?