Eliminated my preamp with amazing results

@arhgef There are plenty of switches that can do the job.

The other issue I'm struggling with is why are manufacturers adding all this gain? The DAC adds gain then goes to the preamp that has more gain and now you can't get the volume knob up over 9 o'clock. I don't see any reason that streaming music needs this. In fact, looking at the recent trends, manufacturers are making units that have less gain and go more direct DAC to the amp with just volume control. 

@gdaddy1 IMO Phillips and Sony made a stupid mistake when they set the Redbook spec to 2V output with digital gear, more than many amps need to overload. I think their reasoning must have been that once you hear digital, you'll never want to hear any other source. Obviously if that was the thinking, it was grossly incorrect.

A smarter thing to do would have been to allow for a lower level DAC output in addition to the regular line section that's built into all DACs and CD players. This way if you happen to have a phono, tuner, tape machine or other source (perhaps video) you could use a regular preamp and get maximum fidelity....

The reason I still use an active preamp, even though my DAC has a good volume control, is because I run balanced lines and the DAC doesn't support the balanced line standard even though it has balanced outputs. I run 30' cables and because my preamp supports the standard, those cables don't have to be expensive to sound right.

FWIW most 'balanced line' products you see aimed at the high end market do not support the standard. As a result you hear cable differences with them, which the balanced line system is supposed to eliminate!

If the DAC has an amplified signal, which I agree it does, why do I need to add a second line gain in the preamp?

@gdaddy1 Obviously you don't :)

Many DACs don't do as well as yours appears to. The reason I will always have a preamp is because I don't want my interconnect cables between the preamp and amp from coloring the sound. I've found in many cases this coloration can be more than the line stage of the preamp! If the DAC is unable to control the cables, then it makes sense to have a preamp that can.

Most balanced line 'high end audio' products don't support the balanced line standard, so I expect there will be a plentiful market for preamps as a result. 

My understanding is that it has 2 main functions. #1 is to control volume. #2 is allow selection of various source components.

A very good question, @gdaddy1 which you almost answer completely, but I’d say a little off.

Besides source selection, a preamp’s jobs are:

• Level MATCHING
• Impedance MATCHING
• Equalizing (for phonographs)

@gdaddy1 @erik_squires IME preamps have 4 essential functions (this is limited to a line stage):

1) input selection

2) volume control

3) provide any needed gain (as will be the case if a tuner, phono section or consumer tape machine is used)

4) (and this is the least understood) reduce or eliminate  artifacts from the interconnect cable between the amp and preamp

Passive controls and TVCs are inherently incapable of point 4) above.

Gdaddy, I hope you understand that running directly out of your DAC is in fact using an active line section. Its dedicated to the DAC of course.

So this comment from your original post is not correct:

Having experimented with 'passive' preamps in the past (McCormack TLC-1) I thought the sound would possibly lose dynamics and bass response would suffer. WRONG!

because you are not working with a passive control right now. Make no mistake- for a DAC to drive a power amp directly the signal must be amplified to meet Redbook standards and that is done with an analog circuit similar to what you find in a preamp line section. As you can see, active circuits work quite well!