DAC as pre amp

I have not heard a DAC that was as good as my current 2 preamps. Though the Lumin X1 with the Leedh volume control (that I owned) was as good, except at very low volume. 

My 2 preamps are the Benchmark LA4 and Holo Serene. You will be hard pressed to find a more quieter, better measuring, and sonically neutral preamp.

Thing is you need to have the volume above 88% and set the gain on the amp to match because Wadia volume control affects resolution. I used my Wadia 521 / 571 combination direct to amp and found coloration with every preamp in the chain. Direct is best.  Presently I also prefer my MSB DAC direct to amp. 

carlsbad2 = this man said it absolutely right.

pre-amp = long time ago, when only phono signal was only a source (with am, fm radios), the signal was too weak, so pre-amplification was needed before any power amp.

no more we need the pre. b/c any dac or cd player makes signals strong enough. now, we have to change the name of ¨pre-amp¨ to ¨control amp¨.

maybe, ¨control amp with slight signal modification¨.

it is truly sad there are people who like the modified sound !!!

when you eat some bbq meat, somebody likes a bbq with lots of sauce. actually the guy enjoys the sauce rather than the meat itself.

go and listen real live music, then you can realize that how much your home audio sound different from the live sound, in terms of vividness.

rich sound = usually, original sound + artificial sound produced by audio electronics as a by-product, usually base frequency.

whenever i hear somebody likes the rich sound improved by a new pre-amp, i have no intention to talk with the person.

I have no problem with people who prefer not to run a preamp if that's what they prefer.  A decent preamp introduces negligible distortion, though.  The difference may be impedance matching or long cable runs I don't know.  It's funny how the anti-preamp people are much more emotional and dogmatic about it.  Where does that come from?

input impedance: preamp = usually 47k

                        power amp = >20k

 inexpensive cd player output = 100 - 200

direct connection (cd + power amp) 200 ohm/ 20k ohm = 1/100 

no meaningful signal loss @ low and high frequency regions

so, there is no impedance matching issue.

some people usually say such as "impedance...", showing they are technically oriented...   not worth listening to them at all, ha ha ha!