@stringreen I just called Michael at Ayre. He was quite unambiguous in stating that the Codex output could very much be fed directly into a power amplifier.
He did add the caveat that the codex was designed first as a DAC and a headphone amplifier. So the fact that it has a digital volume control and variable out should not be let the customer confuse it for a high quality pre-amplifier. Adding a good preamplifier will definitely improve things (as many others in many forums here have pointed out) but that does not mean that the Codex cannot be used, at a pinch, to directly feed an amplifier.
He said that they themselves had done so many times.
Thank you so much for letting me know to contact them. Hope this information is helpful to others on the forum.
He did add the caveat that the codex was designed first as a DAC and a headphone amplifier. So the fact that it has a digital volume control and variable out should not be let the customer confuse it for a high quality pre-amplifier. Adding a good preamplifier will definitely improve things (as many others in many forums here have pointed out) but that does not mean that the Codex cannot be used, at a pinch, to directly feed an amplifier.
He said that they themselves had done so many times.
Thank you so much for letting me know to contact them. Hope this information is helpful to others on the forum.