I was using a passive pre for 4 months, I was really happy. Then I tried a tubed pre to see what I was missing. There's no going back for me, the difference was very prominent. With the passive pre, the sounds was very detailed, but it sounded thin. With my pre in place, the sound is fleshed out, harmonically richer as if going from a color pencil drawing to a color photo. You have to wonder why there are so many $$$ preamps offered. I am listening to the Emotive Audio Poeta now, I can only drool at the thought of hearing the new Epifania. If anyone has heard it, please post your thoughts.
To preamp or not to preamp?
I am pulling together a two channel system that will also have a home theater function. At this point, I am only going to have one source- a CD/DVD player. I have noticed a few source units (such as the EAD DVDMaster 8000) that are able to connect directly to the amp and eliminate the need for a preamp. I am trying to understand the pros/cons of such a configuration. Does anyone out there have experience running a system without the preamp that they would like to share? System is under construction and so far includes Quad 989s as mains with dynamic Quads to cover the other three channels and a Levinson 334. I am looking to spend less than $4000 for the source unit.