Denon 5800 as preamp in "pure direct" mode?

I have a Denon 5800, and pure-direct mode as an analog preamp is quite bad. The detail is considerably reduced, the highs are rolled off, and there is a bit of hash added to the high end. The internal DAC doesn't suffer the roll-off problem, but the analog inputs do. However, both the internal DAC and the analog inputs have hash added to the high end, which makes listening much less enjoyable.

I added the external amp (Bryston 4BST) to better drive my Maggie 3.6/Rs. It was a nice improvement -- not as "thin" sounding.

I had to go to a separate preamp, though (placette passive pre). The Denon is now totally out of the stereo chain, and is used only for HT.

I went through much of the same sort of dillema as you. Although my Surround receiver isn't up to the caliber of yours it suites my needs for movies adequately. I started by adding a Anthem MCA-20 amp at 225Wpc. Then I added a few Harmonic Technology cables. Then came a Musical Fidelity CD player (major improvement over the DVD used for CD). Then I added a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 preamp that has a SSP pass through. Lastly I added the Virtual Dynamics Audition cable package with a biwire configuration which truly iced the cake. I also have the Studio 100's and unless you are wealthy or hyper-critical probably won't want to change them once you hear what they can truly do. They just need a really good power amp to make them sing and good cabling to get all the power there. I may add a pair of Studio 20's or 40's down the road and seperate the 2 channel from the multichannel as I do get a bit of a ground loop from the pre and the SSP. As soon as I disconnect the SSP all noise is gone. But that's another kettle of fish. Good luck.

I solved my Denon dilemna by selling my receiver to a friend and reverted to using my old Parasound PSP 1500 AV preamp. It is a much nicer sounding unit and has a straight wire stereo direct featrure; nice unit. It does not have a phono preamp but I keep an inexpensive Creek phono preamp around when I need it. The Parasound PSP 1500 used is a great buy and has a six channel DB25 input so it can be used with any external six channel processor.

Carl