pre-amp vs dac straight to amps


i have a old (but nice) audio reseach ls-8 going into a ps audio dac III with full cullen upgrades. pre=amp is getting long in tooth and wondering, replace? my whole catalog of over 1500 cd's are now all flac files out of a pc. does the pre-amp add anything ( i thought tubes soften?) so.....

buy a new pre-amp or go straight from dac to amps (yes i know will need something to control volume). thanks very much
mlapenta

Showing 1 response by levy03

i really wanted to go without a pre and tried hard to make sense of it. in the end....i couldn't. my system sounded better with a well matched pre.

it also sounded worse with a not so well matched pre (i tried a few).

no way around trying it for yourself.....but don't be a one and done. try a few a see what happens. it's all about synergy and working well together....or sometimes not.