It is not as simple as people think. Just because a dac outputs enough to drive an amp to full power or more we are forgetting that we almost NEVER listen at full output power. Instead we listen at levels close to 1w or so which in terms of DAC output signal is VERY low signal levels. Unfortunately most DAC’s and CD players place the volume pot after the gain blocks which drastically raises output impedance when used at volume settings less than 100% and gets to an insanely horrible situation at the 10 to 20% of full volume that listening levels demand.
Preamps are made specifically to give optimum performance at these greatly attenuated listening levels and do it with authority. This is the major problem with passive preamps and they lack dynamics and bass drive. Unless the DAC is designed a certain way to optimize very low signal output it will suffer.
Regarding a tube dac used with a tube preamp, it is wonderful IF you have a great tube preamp. Unfortunately there are a lot of cheaper tube components that use tubes in starvation of low plate current for a very "Tubey" sound. That is not my flavor and a proper tube design has transparency, purity and lack of grain that SS rarely achieves.