OK, to the crowd that is voting preamp I am scratching my head. I have a Marantz surround processor and a dedicated Sony Signature TAZH1 ES that functions as a DAC/preamp/headphone amp. It is a cost no object dac/pre from the best engineers at Sony and was 5 years in the making. It sounds transparent as anything, but not "better" than my Marantz unit on 2 channel, just different. What is this preamp that will unleash this magic?? How much do I need to drop?
My current 2 channel Sony preamp/dac/headphone amp:
https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/audio-components/ta-zh1es