Are Preamplifier’s Relevant Today or just a Hinderance with Digital Playback ?

I find attitudes toward preamplifiers in general within some computer audio communities heavily one sided against preamplifiers

This is because invariably the DAC is right next to the amp using a very short cable in most cases, and there being several means of controlling the volume. You might also want to keep in mind that such systems don't tend to be high performance. Lacking resolution, this reaction is to be expected. Don't sweat it :)

Ralph thanks for chiming , I had a mild interest following a topic on another audio site where a member commented he had purchased a new preamplifier or connected up a preamplifier and found he very much preferred the preamplifier over the build in volume of his dac . Last look other members were lining up taking shots at him some suggested what he was actually hearing was nothing more then colorations he just discovered... I just went back to the topic and see every comment and reaction to his post was erased , LOL 

I personally like to run direct, and prefer that sound, from the source, direct. One fellow that I personally admire as I believe him to be quite forward in thought is Bruno Putzey's, in this interview with Darko he talks about pre-amps ~ the 12-13min mark but I think the entire video is worth a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcMsfSvgYEo

Great thread OP!

Certainly, I think this is somewhat system dependent. Overall though, I like preamps much.  

I have the ability to use my DAC's volume control or run it direct to the preamp.  I prefer using a preamp with it for the same reasons others (who do as well) stated above. 

One fellow that I personally admire as I believe him to be quite forward in thought is Bruno Putzey's

Bruno is quite brilliant.

The thing is that cables can cause colorations due to capacitance, interactions with the output impedance of a source, the input impedance of an amp, EMI issues and the like. Plus you can get noise from grounding issues (ground loop) even if a hum isn't evident. In a single-ended connection, the shield is often carrying the signal (in order to complete the circuit).


A lot of that is why the balanced line system was developed- when running balanced (if the balanced line standards are being observed) even though ground loops are present they can't get amplified, the shield of the cable isn't used as part of the audio signal path and so on. So colorations from the interconnect can be vastly reduced.

If your cables are kept short and you are careful with how your sources interact with the passive control and the amplifier, the results can be quite good. But if you are using speakers and are keeping the amps by them so as to minimize colorations from the speaker cables, you might have to run fairly long interconnect cables. If this is the case then the balanced line system is the way to go; you simply won't be easily able to do this with a single-ended connection without coloration.