Who is using their DAC as a preamp?

ahofer
  I've tried a variety of preamps and the only real difference I noticed was an increased noise floor (that was with a Spectral preamp, not a tube unit, interestingly enough) and some tube bloat.

So true ahofer, that's all they can do, increase noise/distortion/colouration and give tube bloat, against going direct if it's a match, and 99% of the time it is a match.
Many tube preamps aren't a match with low input impedance amps also. 

Cheers George 

I've tried using the following volume-controlled DACs as a preamp: MyTek Brooklyn (with Mojo Audio power supply), MyTek Manhattan II, Berkeley Alpha DAC v1 and v2, Antelope Audio Pure 2, Crane Song Solaris, and a few others whose names escape me at the moment. The only one I have adopted long-term as the preamp in the system is the Solaris. I connect the Bryston BDP-3 streamer to the AES input and the digital output of my tuner to the S/PDIF input. The only downside is that the Solaris has no remote control capability. 

aberyclark
Who is using their DAC as a preamp?

Using dacs or cdp’s that most have digital domain volume control, is the most transparent/dynamic, least colored way of hearing the source.

But only if the volume is at or above 75% of full volume. Any lower because it’s too loud than 75% and you run the risk of "bit stripping" eg: 14bit resolution instead of 16bit, and 12 bit if you go even lower.

All is not lost if this is happening and it’s too loud over 75%, you simply use a good passive volume control between the dac and amp, and pre-set the level on it so your dac is used above 75% for the level you need.

Cheers George

I played around w/o a [preamp for a while (Esoteric K03) but when I added a preamp, my life changed.  You really need a good preamp to have incredible midrange, depth and texture, resolution, etc.  Try it.  Game Changes.  I started with an Ayre (sold it for $1650 on here) and moved up to a Jeff Rowland Criterion (got for $10 grand here) and the sound is just plain incredible.

You really need a good preamp to have incredible midrange, depth and texture, resolution, etc.

Sorry but it must be coloration’s your hearing, and if you like that that’s fine it suits your system, some like to color the sound of their source if not happy with it.
But it’s impossible for a preamp to make up (midrange, depth and texture, resolution) itself, and then add it to the music that comes from the source information. Better off getting the sound of the source right.
  
Classic Ivor Tifenbrun (Linn) saying,
"It all starts at the source, get that right and your 1/3rd of the way home, get it wrong and your forever chasing your tail changing things to make up for it".

Cheers George