integrated Amp preamp section or Dac Pre amp section


Hello all

I hope you are all fine under the current circumstances. 

My systems components are a NAD375BBE integrated amplifier and my main source is the Cambridge Audio CXN (v1). As you might know the DAC has a pre amplifier section module in it so I could use this to connect to the pre outs of the NAD which then will be a power amplifier. I have heard various opinions about if DACs pre amps can actual deliver or not so I thought to put it in the forum.

The obvious answer is do it and listen but I would like to take this opportunity and learn something from it too. Below are the specifications from NAD and Cambridge pre amp sections: 

THD 
NAD (Pre OUT (2V in 2V out, CCIF IMD, DIM 100) :
>0.004% (ref. 20Hz – 20kHz)
Cambridge: 
THD @ 1kHz -10dBFs: <0.001   
THD @ 20kHz 0dBFs<0.002

S/N Ratio
NAD:
>110dB (A-weighted, ref. 2V, Volume maximum),
>102dB (A-weighted, ref. 500mV) , 
>92dB (A-weighted, ref. 100mV in 100mV out - unity gain)
Cambridge:
-112dBr (at volume set to full)

Channel Seperation/Crosstalk
NAD (channel seperation):
>80dB@1kHz, >70dB@10kHz
Cambridge (Crosstalk): 
Crosstalk @ 1kHz < -100dB
Crosstalk @ 20kHz < -90dB

Frequency response
NAD:
± 0.5dB (ref. 20Hz - 20kHz)
Cambridge: 
20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.1dB 

Which ones do you think are better and why? As I said, I can connect it and check although it is a good opportunity for me to learn more on pre amp specifications. 

Thanks

dibo81

Showing 1 response by dibo81

Thanks mapman. Apologies for the confusion, yes I meant the main in. 
I will try to do it over the weekend to see if there is any sonic improvement.  

From a bit of reading I did, the Cambridge seems to have better pre amp specifications? Lower number at THD, higher number at S/N ration and channel separation so as far as I understood thats better, right?