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

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

Everything being a good match eg: impedance matched and also the digital domain volume control is not below 70% (so it "bit strips") then direct sounds just like what the the source is giving out, if it’s good or bad. Unless you want/need to color it with a active preamp.

If you can’t use your digital volume control at 70% or above because it too loud, then use a $49 Sys passive between it and the power amp to preset the level so then you can use the digital volume at 70% or higher.

Remember what Nelson Pass says about passive preamps

Nelson Pass,
"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.
Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.
Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.
What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.
And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."

Cheers George

@oldschool1948 Your Innuos is likely helping out a lot in the streaming quality department. In my case, I do not do anything to improve my streaming pipeline until the Fibre cable then USB to DAC. So for me the difference was huge. So much so that I bought 2 OpticalRendu's for each of my DAC's.

You can easily get by without a separate pre-amp it’s your choice. 

it takes a heck of a DAC to have an analog section capable of robust drive and dynamics that a good preamp brings to the table- if you are plugging directly into a power amp and not an integrated.  
i need a preamp because I need tubes and that is where I prefer them.  
i cannot live on solid state alone.  it really does sound lackluster,  

An active preamp any day ,because of its power supplies and gain stage keeps a constant voltage and steady soundstage 
and imaging Rick solid .A passive preamp ,or direct from dac ,
doesnot present the control and stability of the signal voltage .
I have tried them all I am referring to a high quality solid state 
or vacuum tube preamplifier section .
in my latest purchase the Coda CSIB integrated amp. It Is a true Active class A preamplifier section with a tremendous 120 amps on tap for dynamic swings .It has a top notch amp,and preamp section  much better then direct from digital by a lot !!