2. amps-preamps
  3. 182217-6478

Whats the ultimate goal with your pre amp ?

I have a great pre amp its a Pass labs XP-22. Its a great compliment to the rest of my gear-Pass 250.8-Pass XP-17 phono pre-VPI Prime Signature TT-Auralic Aries 2.1 Streamer- PS Audio Directstream MK2--Harbeth 40.2 Anniversaries.

My question is- At what point is a pre amp overkill ? Example- In terms of performance- How close does a Parasound JC-2 get to a Pass XP-22 ?

In my mind I want the Pre to be uncolored..silent...and have flexibility/with XLR's in and out. Does or should it cost 10K to achieve this ?

The point of this post is to gather opinions on what other audiophile thoughts are .

Thanks in advance for any and all opinions.

krelldog

Showing 1 response by overthemoon

overthemoon
461 posts
 

Selecting sources, volume control and presenting the signal to the amplifier is the role of the pre-amp.

In my experience the pre-amp is very important on the quality of sound.  I introduced a quality pre-amp to an integrated amplifier and it improved the detail and dynamics (perhaps it didn't 'color or degraded' the signal to the amp).

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