Tube Pre with Benchmark AHB2 Amp - anyone doing this?

Systems without a preamp tend to be very sterile and thin sounding... highly detailed but not very musical. Benchmark tend to be that way to start with, so cutting out a preamp is likely to net a very detailed and lifeless sound.  A tubed preamp would help to add weight and naturalness to the sound, particularly in voices and midrange instruments. 

I used the Schitt Frey+ tube preamp with the AHB2. It was rather good, and I did not love the Freya+ but the AHB2 made it sound OK. A great tube preamp and the AHB2 should be very nice.

A DAC with volume control is something I hate. Listen at low volume and hear the difference with using a good preamp.

One the biggest regrets ever .Not buying a tube pre amp years ago . I should have listened @ghdprentice. 

Tube preamp is a good way to go if low distortion SS sound is not your thing.

I moved from tube preamp to SS Freya personally.

Tube preamps have higher output impedance. That can lead to much of the resulting sound being softer, less dynamic, and “easier on the ear”, but for best performance in those areas, you want a SS amp with corresponding high input impedance. So different amps will likely sound more different with a tube preamp. Impedance matching matters more than ever with a tube preamp.

AHB2 input impedance specs look decent for use with a tube preamp, but I can  assure you Benchmark products in general are not designed with tube pre-amps as a primary consideration.