MSB DAC IV or dCS Paganini

I've auditioned the Paganini DAC and transport today, using the U clock. It is a wonderful set, much better than the Puccini. It plays SACD like no other. However, in redbook CDs the DAC IV was more musical. Hard choices !!!

I am very curious about the performance of MSB 4. The upgradeability sure is a big appeal for MSB. I am considering to get at the signature level but with diamond power supply and volume control. And then upgrade to Diamond chips when funds permit. It will be my first foray to high end DAC.
Hope to get more inputs from other MSB users.

I would not recommend the volume control. Although it is pretty good, at that level of performance, a seperate preamplifier sounded better in my system, and actually I felt that the DAC IV without the volume option sounded better compared to the bypass mode.

Really?
I am shocked. A preamplifier would only add distortion I presume in an all digital system. I don't listen to analog sources so I don't really see the point. The passive preamp option seems so high quality.
What do you use as a preamp?

I'm using Octave HP 500SE which is wonderful.