High end stereo preamps? Worth it?

Glad to hear Pass agrees with me. Now if I could only afford any of his equipment....

Yes well he is a "business man", and does make preamps, there’s money to be made there also, that’s just what you pay for knowledge and you’ve got to say if your a "glitz queen" they do look the part.

I preferred his older Threshold poweramp circuit designs, when he used bi-polar output devices. Mosfets are good if you only use N channel top and bottom (but he doesn’t and it’s difficult), because then both top and bottom N Mosfets can give current, but the problem is the P channel doesn’t it’s always weaker, so a conventional push/pull complimentary l N and P channel Mosfet amp can’t give the current into low impedances like a NPN/PNP bi-polar can.

Cheers George

@georgehifi 
You have made us all aware of your opinion on the subject of preamps but I thought the readers here might benefit from seeing the whole Nelson Pass quote.
Mr. Pass apparently believes there is sometimes a need for a preamp or buffer, for the reasons he stated in the quote, or simply because some people believe it sounds better with a preamp in their system.
I get that Pass is a businessman but he is also somebody who has never been afraid to march to the beat of his own drum so I do not buy that the only reason he designs and manufactures preamps is for people who want glitz.  I doubt he would manufacture the $17,500 XP-32 three-chassis reference preamp if he didn't believe it added something positive to the sound of his amplifiers in more than 1 percent of systems.
I have no interest in a technical debate as my observations on the subject were already posted on this thread on October 25, at 12:02pm. 

Mr. Pass apparently believes there is sometimes a need for a preamp

Yes, and I've also said this, as I said in my second last post when the impedances are mismatched, but I also said 99% of the time this is not an issue. 

 

I doubt he would manufacture the $17,500 XP-32 three-chassis reference preamp if he didn't believe it added something

It can only add coloration/distortion to the sound of the source, I ask you why not hear what the sound of the source is by going direct, then if you don't like it, don't spend $17k to color/distort it. Change it for a better source.
Quote: Ivor Tifenbrun (Linn LP12)
"It all starts at the source get that right and the rest is going to follow"
And I'll add to that get it wrong, and you chase your tail looking for the right preamp to color the problem, as they all sound different.       

I have no interest in a technical debate

Say no more

This threat is unneccesarily long: assuming no highly unusual impedance miss match there is no conceivable reason for a separate preamp in a digital reproduction chain: additional cabling and circuits for no gain (pardon the pun)