Berkeley Alpha Reference run direct

Mine sounds amazing feeding my amplifiers direct, DAC to amps.
imgoodwithtools

Stay with that, this way your hearing it at it's most transparent/dynamic best. As today's sources can drive amps just as good if not better than some preamps can.  
Sticking in more unneeded electronics in the signal path is just adding more colourations. If you like those colouration more, then you should look elsewhere to change your sound instead of adding more unneeded electronics, eg: amp, speakers or even the source itself.

Cheers George    

I contacted Berkeley Audio Design. They Can change the voltage gain of the DAC, internally, if requested. There is No way for the user to change the voltage gain of the DAC, in comparison to its volume level. The BAR was designed to optimally drive loads with about 20 db of gain, which allows for an ideal volume setting of 54.

Imgoodwithtools,  
How goes it sound? Do you feel Diana Krall breathing at the piano on the Paris CD.  Seat creaking?  If you do, you don't need a preamp.  

It sounds absolutely incredible. And it's not like I don't have options. I have my old Ayre K-1xe, which is quite transparent. It adds a touch of impact to voices, especially, and can give them a somewhat shouty character. It homogenizes the sound a bit. More cohesive, slightly less detail. I plan to use the Ayre for SACD playback, video, etc.

I spoke with a dealer in California today who caries Berkeley, Audio Research, and Ayre. They feel the Berkeley is outstanding run direct. But they have heard better soundstaging, especially depth of field and layering, by using a great preamp. They say the AR Ref 6 is an absolute steal at $14K, detailed, harmonically rich, great soundstaging. But they said the best they've ever heard the Berkeley for ultimate transparency was with the volume at 54, and run balanced thru an Ayre KX-R Twenty.