So we know the higher end preamps don’t include dacs and phono stages. Highly desirable noise free devices. I hear wonderful things about these preamps, Luxman, Accuphase, Audio Research, etc.
Are they as good as represented?
there is no one size fits all answer to these two questions. the first question is whether a high end preamp is worth it.
up to a certain investment point in a total system, a preamp holds you back. this is because a stand alone active preamp adds a layer of interconnects and power cords and noise. at lower levels of quality those artifacts are bigger than the dynamic additions the stand alone preamp adds. you are better off using an analog preamp in a dac and eliminating a preamp and tasking that budget elsewhere. the tipping point for this question is not definable; it will depend on the level of gear you are using, if you are using multiple sources, and whether your dac preamp can handle the source switching.
past a certain point of system investment and performance the stand alone preamp takes you further. but it will need quality ancillaries to be at it’s best.
at the highest system performance levels stand-alone active preamps are not only worth it; with very rare and expensive exceptions they are essential.
the other variable is the quality of the preamp in a dac you might choose. for instance; i own the MSB Select II dac; which has a passive preamp inside it that will surpass many/most active stand alone preamps. and also it’s capable of accepting a source input so can be used with a phono stage. it it a remarkably capable preamp; but......the MSB Select II is hideously expensive. it takes my also quite expensive darTZeel 18NS preamp to surpass the MSB Select II passive, and then only by a small margin. if i was digital ’only’ i would not be using my dart preamp.
the second question you ask (not directly) is whether a high end preamp can have phono stages included. my dart pre has very fine phono stages (2 of them), yet performs at a high level. it is the resident preamp in Michael Fremer’s system too. and there are other fine high end preamps with internal phono stages. so ultimate preamp performance is not exclusive to those without phono stages.