I’m glad I came this one in my Agon weekly recap email. I started a thread recently with pretty much the same situation/question. I’m also have a Lumin direct XLR into class D monoblocks. My Lumin S1 (superseded by the X1) also has the LeedH volume control. I think it’s sounds nice, but I had to take the plunge to find out since I don’t have any friends that are into audio that I could borrow one from. I have a tube preamplifier arriving next week. I can’t wait to hear the difference- either way. Or, maybe it’ll sound the same? No matter what, at least I can finally hook-up and listen to my turntable again.
DAC DIRECT IN TO AMPLIFIER OR TO PREAMPLIFIER
For the longest time, I believed that the best preamplifier is no preamplifier. Eliminating a component from the audio chain would yield less distortion & greater purity.
Recently, I have had reason to re-think my logic on the matter - and I am (I think) changing my mind. Better said, assuming that the preamplifier in the component you are using (in my case, a DAC) can produce 95% or greater quality sound compared to the preamplifier component, then no preamplifier is the best option. The 5% represents the (estimated) loss of fidelity in adding another set of interconnects.
That said, most DACs do not have an outstanding preamplifier built in. I think most have average passive attenuators, and the better DACs have active preamplifiers that are very good - but not as good as a quality preamplifier.
What are your thoughts?
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- 95 posts total
- 95 posts total