Best Preamp = No Preamp?

My experience also:

In my experience, no pre-amp is always better than a crappy pre-amp; a good pre-amp is always better than having no pre-amp.

Jmaldonado

Your comments are so off point. As I have said, I have owned the best high end has to offer. My reference systems consisted of gear all reviewers would say is not dry and lifeless. No flaws.

A good preamp just sounded better then no preamp in every instance over the years with various pieces of gear - all well respected and match well in a nicely treated room.

Tube or SS, a good preamp always gave the music more body and weight. Even with Thor, CJ, Belles, Wavac, AA, top of the line electronics and Silverline, Dali, Audes and other natural sounding speakers that were far from dry.

I have owned several good passive preamps and great CD players with volume and the preamp always helped.

Bill

Jmaldonado
ever hear the term synergy...?
My take on the "high end sound " is the result YOU come to love after much hardware experience....synergy comes to mind...so be it if you call one component dry and and others compensating...Jmaldonado whatever terms you use within your comfort zone remain that.
to me it's as much about finding the colorations in your gear that make your feet tap. If you call your colorations neutral, that's your bag baby and nobody will fault you for that. That's the beauty of this passion!!

A friend lived with a Benchmark feeding a power amp directly ' no contest ' an active preamp created a more listenable presentation.

I agree with the preamp believers. I used the Benchmark direct with several power amps, and it sounded weak, compressed, flattened imaging...not good.

The Bel Canto DAC3 has much more drive and bass and dynamics than the Benchmark when run direct. The DAC3 has a much larger power supply and a digital volume control that was designed with some buffering to get around the usual problem passive drive has.

However, placing a quality tube preamp in the circuit shows you what you are missing. More air, more expanse, more space, more dynamics. However, if you can't afford a good enough preamp, you won't get these results with so-so preamps. I could live with the DAC3 direct, and have, while between preamps. If expense is the factor, the DAC3 might be an answer for you.