How important is the pre-amp?

you cannot generalize about the importance of preamps as the contribution of preamps to the system performance is all about context and the resolution of the system.

at modest levels of gear preamps are limitations to performance as they add cables, plugs and mediocre circuits to the signal path. you are better off finding sources with analog volume controls that are capable of directly driving amplifiers (less is definitely more at modest levels). your net performance will be higher for the same investment. i’m over-simplifying things somewhat, but this is mostly how it goes. an exception is where you personally prefer the coloration a particular preamp might bring to what you hear. a matter of personal preference....and not how i like to do it.

past a certain point of gear performance/resolution level preamps start to add dynamics and drive to the music. then the next step is preamp synergy with amplifiers. the top level of preamps are the ones made to be optimized with particular amplifiers. at the cutting edge preamps limit amps and amps limit preamps. the idea is the sum is greater than the parts.

in my particular system i have a great passive preamp inside my MSB Select II Dac. it’s really fine directly driving my dart amps. but my darTZeel battery power active preamp combined with my dart amps is even better. but if i did not have multiple analog sources i would eliminate the dart pre and go naked with the MSB passive pre in my dac.

ing@azwineguy

Dare I ask if it is possible to get decent sound from a home theater preamp?

sound quality is a combination of a number of things.

on this forum with it’s 2 channel focus signal path’s need to be as pure as possible (including the most pure preamp) to optimize the 2 channel media. along with rooms and acoustics which promote 2 channel listening, which is mostly diffusion. the subtle nuance is critical. the speakers are intended to work ’with’ the room.

but a dsp based multi-channel Home Theater system has a different set of rules. the room needs lots of absorption since with 11 to 15 surround speakers for performance you want direct sound not reflected sound. the challenge is still low noise but the dsp process and adding all those speakers makes it less critical (the concept of noise.....is actually signal to noise); especially if you play at the top of the dsp food-chain with 15 speakers and a Trinnov Altitude 16 or 32 processor (it's damn quiet).

https://www.trinnov.com/en/products/altitude16/

but rooms are not chameleons; you have to choose......and if you combine 2 channel and serious multi-channel then one (or likely both) will be compromised. i’m talking degrees of good here, not saying both cannot still be enjoyable.....but still they both can’t be truly optimal since the room rules are different.

i have 2 separate serious rooms; one for 2 channel with mostly diffusion for the walls and one for dsp multi-channel/movies.....with 15 speakers and 3 subwoofers.....and lots of absorption.

you can get fantastic sound from a Home Theater processor, but it’s lots of effort. and if you get fantastic multi-channel sound, then playing 2 channel media will be compromised......although it’s possible you might like some sort of multi-channel effect more than just using 2 speakers for the 2 channel media from that Home Theater processor.

as far as volume attenuation, easily the best i’ve heard is on the battery powered darTZeel NHB-18NS; there is no potentiometer or resistor network in line with the audio, volume control being by passive attenuation governed by a dedicated processor via analogue optical couplers, offering 192 steps in increments of 0.5dB.

it is truly transparent, yet dynamically alive. alas, it does run $50k.

i've compared it with other active preamps, as well as the MSB Select II passive, and the Placette Remote Volume Control passive. so far it's my preference to any of those.