Is a pre/pro considered digtal or analog ?

Saki70,

A component is "digital" or "analog" depending upon what type
of signals it handles.

A run of the mill "preamp" with analog signal in, and analog
signal out is definitely "analog".

A DAC with digial in and analog out - is "digital"

A pre/pro has components and functions of both - it has a DAC
so it is "digital", but it also may take in an analog
signal and output analog - which would make it "analog".

However, "digital" and "analog" are just labels - who cares
if a component is "digital" or "analog"?

A "DAC" is a "DAC", a "preamp" is a "preamp" - I think we
all understand what each does - so there's no real utility
in labeling them as "digital" or "analog".

Dr. Gregory Greenman

Also note a Horse is a Horse of course of course unless of course , that Horse of course, is the famours Mr. Ed.

Wilbur says keep digital on seperate lines from power amps.

I agree with the above. I have a B&K Reference 20 preamp/processor that can handle digital or analog inputs and outputs. I used an optical digital cable from my CD digital out to the digital input on the preamp. So the digital signal from the CD does not get converted to analog at this point, it feeds the digital directly to the preamp as 1s and 0s.
But the preamp then needs to convert the digital signal to analog before sending the signal to the power amp. From this point on the signal's analog. Strangley, the sound is much better using the analog outputs from my CD to the analog inputs on the preamp. The difference is not subtle, analog sounds much more real and dimensional. I'm not sure why this is but I'm curious.

Noble: it's obvious that your CDP has superior dacs /and or analog output stages compared to the B&K, OR jitter is the problem. The thing that disturbes me is that many folks have moved to pre/pros and are using the onboard DACs in the processors for CD playback. In some cases this would work remarably well except for the one factor that has been ignored: jitter. It is rare to see mention of an outboard jitter filter used between CD players (or DVD players) and processors. The difference a jitter filter makes can be substantial. While some processors have very good reclocking circuitry, most don't.

Lneilb,

Makes sense. Do you think I should stick with the analog or try a jitter filter? Thanks.