I have a different twist on this subject and I mean no harm by my comments. In the past I listened to the McCormack line lots as I was thinking about upgrading to it. Within there line I personally believe you have there best amp in the .5 I wasn't a fan of there passive preamp at all. In fact my time with there passive preamplifier basically turned me off on passive preamplifier s. I knew a fellow who had a qed passive as well that I didn't care for as well so I never bothers paying any attention to them after that. I found all the McCormack line to have a level of underlayment of scratchness to the sound. The extreme example would be the radio in a 70s Chevy. My first thought was as soon as you took there preamplifier out of the chain your system likely became way clearer. Not being a passive preamplifier fan I would think you are very right that there will be more drive and not as boring sounding. I have read many times on this thread to keep you preamplifier around for awhile. My thoughts are quite different on that personally I think if you want to compare your system with a preamplifier in or out of your system you need to actually try your system with a preamplifier borrow one from a friend or audition one from your hifi dealer. I know that comes across as a harsh statement but years ago I wish someone would have told me my highly reviews speakers were actually cow dung. They were the last of the system upgrades I did. And my friends said to me afterwards congratulations you finally bought a speaker. In fact after hours and hours and what I though at the time was lots of money I had something worth turning on. So it is from that perspective that I made that comment. Now another observation on volume controls in a preamplifier I by far prefer a resistor ladder over a pot. That being said there are some very good pots in some preamplifier s. And also there are other reasons for no preamplifier as well in my bedroom system physical space comes to mind I wanted a system with mono blocks right at the speaker and one source only and a volume control at the source. I did this for awhile with an old McIntosh tuner. Then I bought a refurbished wadia cd player wadia back in the day build one of the finest digital volume controls in there cd players made and took the tuner out. After awhile I changed the amps out for a set that had volume controls on the amps. A set of line magnetic 124a that are based on an old western electric design the wadia was narrow and deep so I had to turn it sideways on my dresser so I bought another old school top end cd player from krell and run that on the bedroom system. Lol very over the top either way but I enjoy it and after the wreck and becoming handicapped there is very little enjoyment left in my life. Lol I went very over the top on systems around the house I have to hire people to move pieces for me. Respectfully if you want to compare with and without a preamplifier I think you should try it with a better preamplifier. I have nothing but total belief that your system sounds better without the preamplifier you have. Personally I am happy for you that you are finding more enjoyment out of your system this way.
Regards