DAC vs. Preamp

Another option worth looking into is a DEQX unit. HDP-4 replaced my prior preamp (the excellent Musical Fidelity kW which I need to get around to selling) and DAC. Gives you multiple digital inputs, 2 analog inputs, and digitally corrects for your room and your speaker. Pretty amazing unit. And very transparent. I notice no degradation of sound with my vinyl rig running the DEQX in bypass mode (which still involved ADC/DAC conversion. 

Gives you unbelievable flexibility in fine tuning the sound of your system, and you can program in multiple profiles that you can switch between at the click of a button. There is a long thread on DEQX here on Audiogon. There you'll see the super-member Almarg has also gotten on the DEQX train. 

That sound intriguing. I'll check out some posts on that.

I've tried DAC only twice; first time with a PS Audio DSD, second time with the Bricasti M1...my ears prefer the sound with a preamp in the system. I currently have a Jeff Rowland Aeris DAC and Jeff Rowland Corus preamp. It's sounds much better than a DAC functioning as a DAC/preamp.

Thanks for the knowledge. I'm getting the opinion that almost no one thinks going without a preamp is a good idea. I thought that would be the case.

Ricred1,
Congrats on the recent upgrade to your system.
Can you please describe the difference between going direct from the Aeris dac to power amps vs through the Corus preamp?
I have heard the Corus in my system but not the Aeris dac.
Thanks in advance.
J. :)