Should I eliminate my preamp?

I most certanly prefer my Audio Research LS27 to no preamplifier by far.  In fact if I play my 35 year old or so Stax headphone system thru the record out of mt LS27 instead of the audio source directly in the audio reproduction is extremely better thru the tube LS27.  It is not just a minor improvement in sound quality.  Whatever audio source is used, say even my OPPO 205 as well as 105, the addition of a fairly recent Audio Research tube preamp will be the best choice.  By doing so a quality close to40 year old Stax headphone system can actually compete favorably to some of the recent expensive planer magnetic headphones of today.  For a fraction of the cost.  That is what a true quality tube preampkifier can do for an audio system.  It is simply someting one has to try out for themself.  Recently Paul McGowan of PS Audio said the same on his own current top audio systems.

As a long time (>20 year) user of and believer in passive line stages / removing active line stages, the answer is a big "it depends."   I.e., it depends on the output impedance of your source, the overall quality of the output stage (including both volume control mechanism and current delivery) of your source, the capacitance of your interconnects, the input impedance and sensitivity of your amplifier, and (of lesser importance) the sensitivity of your speakers.  Beyond that, I don't see enough information about your components and system to give a more definite recommendation.  I own an older Oppo (BDP-83se), but don't believe it has output volume control; however, my general impression is that I don't think the output stage is of the quality that I would necessarily prefer a direct drive sound.  By contrast, some of the aftermarket Oppos that significantly upgrade the output stage are suitable candidates for direct drive to the amplifier.

It's always been said by audio designers as a gauge of how good a preamp is since the mid 1900's, when separates (preamp & poweramp)  entered into audio, that saying is:
  
"The best preamp should sound like a piece of wire"
  
ie: a like a direct source to amp connection.  


Cheers George   

Why not go to a high quality integrated amp and forget this whole discussion?  I went to a 300B amp and I've been very happy with the results.  Before that I had Maggy 20.1 panels, Manley Neo Classic 250 tube amps, and a Prima Luna Dialogue tube preaamp.  My source was a Berkeley DAC (with volume control). For grins I connected my Berkeley DAC directly to the Manleys and I was shocked that I preferred that sound to the preamp!  But I like the 300B sound even better.

The advice given is good.   If your inputs are limited to one and that is the digital input with variable output, you have nothing to lose by using it instead of a preamp, unless the digital volume control were noisy for some reason.

I have one preamp, original cost $5000 (which would be around $10K today) sitting in a third system, just because it has a very good dual volume control with discrete high quality resistors and a switch. The fancy dual phono stages etc. remain unused.

Wonder if someone has done an A/B between something like that and a CD player digital volume control.......