To Preamp Or Not To Preamp,That Is The Question

Here's a few general rules of thumb:

The further away the CDP is from the power amps, the more likely a preamp will help.

If you have a built-in volume control: if analog you will need the preamp less, if it is digital, you will need the preamp more (digital controls rob the signal of resolution as you turn them down, so you use the volume control in the preamp instead to avoid this problem).

Why CDP and DAC designers use digital volume controls is beyond me. None of them work and a digital designer would be the first to know that...

Why CDP and DAC designers use digital volume controls is beyond me. None of them work and a digital designer would be the first to know that...

Ralph, once again two of the most brilliant minds at Audiogon (you and Kirkus) have an intellectual disagreement, at least with respect to contemporary digital volume controls. :-)

See the following thread, especially the comment by Kirkus near the end:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1265995004

Best regards,
-- Al

Al, on this one all I can say is that every time I see a digital volume control, my experience with them is that by the time you are down to 85% (as opposed to 100) there is an audible loss in resolution.

I get that there is an explanation for why I can't possibly be experiencing that; obviously I don't buy it.

Many tricks are possible with digital. Some are well executed and some not, like most things.

I've got the GCD575 about 18" away from the CJ MF2300 at the moment I think...Kimber Hero ICS...I have heard the same re digital vol controls...(no thx) but I'm pretty sure the 575 is analog anyways...

Another related question, what is the diff between this setup I have (vol ctrl on the CDP) and an AMP like a MC2105 with volume controls, with a CDP that has fixed outputs ?