Are Pre-Amps necessary?

more seriously folks, i will quote @mikelavigne's response in the prior thread on the subject that i referenced earlier

if this place had 'stickies' on this subject as posed in the op's question, mike's post would have my vote as the definitive and 'straight to the heart of the matter' reply

09-30-2021 3:19pm

you cannot generalize about the importance of preamps as the contribution of preamps to the system performance is all about context and the resolution of the system.

at modest levels of gear preamps are limitations to performance as they add cables, plugs and mediocre circuits to the signal path. you are better off finding sources with analog volume controls that are capable of directly driving amplifiers (less is definitely more at modest levels). your net performance will be higher for the same investment. i’m over-simplifying things somewhat, but this is mostly how it goes. an exception is where you personally prefer the coloration a particular preamp might bring to what you hear. a matter of personal preference....and not how i like to do it.

past a certain point of gear performance/resolution level preamps start to add dynamics and drive to the music. then the next step is preamp synergy with amplifiers. the top level of preamps are the ones made to be optimized with particular amplifiers. at the cutting edge preamps limit amps and amps limit preamps. the idea is the sum is greater than the parts.

in my particular system i have a great passive preamp inside my MSB Select II Dac. it’s really fine directly driving my dart amps. but my darTZeel battery power active preamp combined with my dart amps is even better. but if i did not have multiple analog sources i would eliminate the dart pre and go naked with the MSB passive pre in my dac.

When it comes to gear, speakers first then a preamp, then a source. I like digital and analog. Everything else rotates, power amps, TT, DAC, RtR, FM, Streaming, SACD, CD, Cassette, Karaoke :-) 

I don't use a preamp on my Victrola, BUT If I could figure a way I would..

Regards

A lot has to do with your amp. With my Gryphon Mephisto directly from my Emm Labs DV2, too edgy. To much of everything. With the Gryphon Pandora Pre, a much more refined presentation. Call it texture, more musical, all the familiar adjectives. For me in my system it was an easy call. Believe me, I wanted it to work directly from the DV2. I can see in some systems where directly can work but it depends on several factors.

Cerrot phrased it nicely "It gave flesh to the musical bones" Well said...

As mentioned, this has had a lot of coverage here.  Assuming you are talking about a line stage and not a preamp with phono, then there are several functions.

• source switching
• volume control
• voltage gain
• impedance control
• interconnect control

Assuming your source has sufficient voltage, then passive units, or DACs with onboard volume control, can get the first three done.  Impedances can be mostly matched through your source/drive unit and amplifier selections, and short connecting cables can help with the interconnect control issue.  However, even with short cables and more than sufficient voltage, many here find that an active or at least buffered stage improves body, tone, and drive so, at least in some systems, sufficient voltage alone is not cutting it.  I have tried multiple passive units, and even a DAC with onboard VC and a 4V output, but always come back to a buffered unit sounding clearly better to me.  Borrow a passive unit and make your own decision about what sounds best to you, in your system.