Who is using their DAC as a preamp?

I've done it for years, started with my Theta DS Pre in the early 1990s, and doing it now with the Cambridge Audio Edge NQ (which also styles  itself a DAC/preamp).  I've never bought the claims that introducing a preamp improves the sound, unless it provides better impedance matching, which is unlikely, or eliminates design problems such as distortion in the gain phase.  I've tried a variety of preamps and the only real difference I noticed was an increased noise floor (that was with a Spectral preamp, not a tube unit, interestingly enough) and some tube bloat.

I use a Wadia 321 DAC and a RP-1 as a pre/phono stage. The RP-1 doesn’t have balanced capability but the Wadia and my amp do. I put the RP-1 in line for the phono stage, which was rated good, and so I could roll some tubes and hopefully warm things up as I my amp is class D. I proly been running the RP-1 and using streaming sources 80% of the time for nearly a year. Just the other day I pulled the RP-1 out of the system and went back to balanced connections from the Wadia to the amp as I been streaming a bunch. I like having both capabilities but wished I could afford an RP-5 with balanced.

ahofer
  I've tried a variety of preamps and the only real difference I noticed was an increased noise floor (that was with a Spectral preamp, not a tube unit, interestingly enough) and some tube bloat.

So true ahofer, that's all they can do, increase noise/distortion/colouration and give tube bloat, against going direct if it's a match, and 99% of the time it is a match.
Many tube preamps aren't a match with low input impedance amps also. 

Cheers George 

I've tried using the following volume-controlled DACs as a preamp: MyTek Brooklyn (with Mojo Audio power supply), MyTek Manhattan II, Berkeley Alpha DAC v1 and v2, Antelope Audio Pure 2, Crane Song Solaris, and a few others whose names escape me at the moment. The only one I have adopted long-term as the preamp in the system is the Solaris. I connect the Bryston BDP-3 streamer to the AES input and the digital output of my tuner to the S/PDIF input. The only downside is that the Solaris has no remote control capability. 

aberyclark
Who is using their DAC as a preamp?

Using dacs or cdp’s that most have digital domain volume control, is the most transparent/dynamic, least colored way of hearing the source.

But only if the volume is at or above 75% of full volume. Any lower because it’s too loud than 75% and you run the risk of "bit stripping" eg: 14bit resolution instead of 16bit, and 12 bit if you go even lower.

All is not lost if this is happening and it’s too loud over 75%, you simply use a good passive volume control between the dac and amp, and pre-set the level on it so your dac is used above 75% for the level you need.

Cheers George