CD direct to amp vs active preamp

Sean, with your interest in recording, you should take a peek at the Z-Systems rdp-1 digital pre-amp/equalizer. While expensive at $5K, it's da bomb. Charlie

Contrary to the general opinions here, my Levinson 39 was working great into Levinson 20.6 monoblocks... UNTIL I put a burmester preamp between them... There is NO comparison - the preamp was better in Every Single Possible Way.

And why shouldn't it be? You have a CD player with, say, 1/5 of the price going into a little preamp section versus a dedicated preamp costing twice (retail) what the CD player cost, 10 times more than the itty bitty CD preamp. And more money does buy you great sounding music, if not love :-)

Count me among those who run the Accuphase DP-75V directly into the amp. Like Kelly, I too sold my preamp which at the time was a Rowland Synergy II (previous to latest surface mount board technology) powered by Rowland's own battery power supply (BPS2?). I believe this rig retailed somewhere around $8000-9,000 at the time, yet the DP-75V running direct (into Rowland Model 10 amp) sounded better. IMO a lot of money for swiching and balance functions.

I auditioned the following setups at dealer showroom.

Pass Labs x-350, Wadia 860, Thiel 2.3’s, and Pass Labs x-0.

I preferred the x-0 in the chain to the Wadia direct. The Wadia sounded thin and digital with their preamp section.

Pass Labs x-350, Wadia 860, Thiel 2.3’s, and Pass Labs d1 and x-0.

I much preferred the d1 without having the x-0 in the chain. Smoother sound, with a better overall presentation.

Mark Levinson 39, 36’s, and Martin Logan Prodigy .

Very musical. Overall did not like the presentation and did not purchase the 39.

As always it’s a matter of personal choice and system dependent.

I was just curious as to the various results. Thanks for taking the time to post and share your experiences and observations.

Like Audiotomb, I have a DAC with two different sets of outputs. I can run direct via the built in shunt style stepped attenuators with 4 volts of output available or run into a preamp at line level. I've done both, making all of the "necessary" cable changes along the way, and noticed no discernable differences. Keep in mind that the level of resolution that this system posesses may not be nearly as high as some others. Then again, neither is the money that i've invested in it nor my bank account. I'm simply trying to work with what i have and can afford : )

Since this specific preamp seems to do nothing but add versatility and it is FAR more convenient, i'm going to leave it hooked up. I have several other sources within that system and having a "transparent switchbox" is pretty handy. After all, who actually "enjoys" hooking / unhooking various components ? That is, unless you just picked up a "new toy" : )

My guess is that those that did not like the CD direct approach ran into loading problems. It is my opinion that playing with various interconnects ( and the different impedances that they present ) may have resolved most of that situation. That is, so long as there was enough drive coming out of the DAC section to push the amp ( easily ) to full power in the first place. Unfortunately, one may not be able to swap cables around, do multiple time consuming comparisons, etc.. especially if you are doing all of this on site at a dealer's location.

Since recording levels and amplifier gain ( input sensitivity ) can vary so much, i don't think that some amps ever get the necessary drive level that they should when fed directly from some players / DAC's. I have known a few folks that have tried running "cd direct" and not been able to achieve the desired listening levels that they could with the addition of an added gain stage ( active preamp). This obviously reduces ones' listening enjoyment, as the music may lack drive and intensity.

Between the lack of gain and loading problems, this might account for the majority of "lacking dynamics / tonal & timbre mismatch" situations mentioned. After all, if introducing a preamp into the system makes it sound "better", you have either corrected the above mentioned deficiencies OR added colouration to the amplification chain that is more to your liking.

Before someone gets all jacked up about my last comment, i personally don't think that there is anything wrong with "tilting" the response to your liking. Since we all have to listen to our own systems, i would prefer having one that i can actually enjoy and "sounds good" rather than one that supposedly "looks good" on paper or measurements and impresses others. The bottom line is to set your own personal and system goals and then strive to reach them.

Just by reading some of the various comments on these forums, it should be fairly obvious that many of us "dance to the beat of a different drummer". The nice thing about all of this is that we can compare notes and draw from any / all of our experiences and knowledge as needed. I know that i've learned quite a bit from others and have applied many of those things to my own personal systems. At the same time, i've tried to pass on some things that i've learned along the way.

Hopefully, we can agree that sharing knowledge and experience helps us all out. Whether or not we agree on specifics may be a completely different story : ) Sean
>