Is the Preamp section of the DEQX as good as a separate one?


Guys- Was thinking of getting the premate- My question to you is this- How many of you replaced your existing preamp with the preamp of the DEQX- I need to get a new preamp but was not sure how good a tube preamp I would have to get to better the one in the premate- thanks
bopper
FWIW I've been happy using a DEQX HDP-5 as my preamp. It replaced a Classe CP-60.

I'm not sure how relevant that is to your question, though, as the PreMate is a somewhat older model than the HDP-5. (The PreMate Plus was introduced around the same time as the HDP-5). The PreMate is also somewhat less expensive than the HDP-5, as you are no doubt aware, but I suspect that the price difference is driven mainly by differences in features rather than sonics.  

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al