Wadia 302 Direct to amp or via pre-amp

If you use a preamp, you can use the volume control on the preamp, so therefore it's best to get the Wadia volume control "out of the way" (meaning set to 99 or 100). If you do that and the system volume (out of the speakers) is too loud when your preamp volume control is set to 12 o'clock, then you have to reduce the Wadia's output a little bit using the internal adjustment dip switches -- instructions are available from Wadia as an email attachment if you're in a hurry ;--)

ON THE OTHER HAND if you are going directly into an amp, you need to achieve an average listening level at a Wadia setting of 67 (approximately) so that you have a little bit of up and down volume range. Again, if 67 is too loud (or soft) then you need to adjust the internal switches so that 67 provides a "normal" volume.
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Nsgarch, What I don't understand is, assuming for the sake of discussion and clarification, I had a totally neutral pre-amp wouldn't the sound of the 302 be better with its volume control out of the way (or just wide open, perhaps?) than direct into the amp with a substantial reduction in signal strength? Or are they saying that the volume attenuator on any pre-amp is more detrimental to the sound than the attenuator used in the 302? To my way of thinking IF the quality of the pre-amp attenuator was SOTA then you could run the 302 at, say 67 and still get the same quality signal at the amp. I want to maximize the benefits of the Wadia, but I have other sources to consider and I'd prefer not to have to get a seperate amp for the Wadia. BTW, FWIW, I now have it directly connected to an amp and it sounds quite nice, in fact much better than I anticipated when I bought it! :-)

Thanks for your comments.

Newbee -- (first, just a note: "out of the way" and "wide open" are the same thing ;--)

In reading many threads on this subject, the general concensus (not 100% mind you) has been that "through a preamp sounds better" and also, another concensus is that CDPs and DACs sound best when using their balanced outputs (if provided) into balanced inputs (whether on an amp or on a preamp.)

I do use the balanced ouputs on my Wadia 27 DAC, but into balanced inputs on my Levinson 26s preamp. I've never even bothered to try the direct-2-amp hookup because as you said, I too have other sources to consider. And since I've not heard the direct hookup, I don't have to deal with the anxiety of wondering if my preamp hookup sounds best ;--)

I've never had to adjust the internal Wadia dip switches, because at "wide open" (Wadia level 100 on the display,) and with my preamp volume at (the optimum) 12 or 1 o'clock, my CDs sound a little too loud, and so do my LPs and tuner. So all sources are in the same volume range. My preamp doesn't have remote volume control, but at least I can use the mute/volume on the Wadia when necessary.

Wadia would like us to feed all our analog sources into their A/D encoder, then feed that into the DAC or CDP and then directly into the amp. But why the hell would one want to digitize all one's expensive analog sources! -- plus you'd lose several (convenient to use) preamp functions like mono/stereo, tape loop/record out, phase invert, etc.

So for my purposes anyway, I don't see ever eliminating the preamp. If you have a CD-only system, it might make sense. But if I were going to do that, I wouldn't use a CD player. I'd buy a transport and run a long AT&T glass optical cable to the DAC and amp between the speakers affording the absolute shortest ICs and speaker cables ;--)
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Newbee,

The volume in a Wadia (at least my 861SE)can be manipulated in two ways:

1) Digital Volume Control (1-100). By setting to 100, you have essentially bypassed the Digital Volume Control. If you use a preamp, you should set the DVC to 100. Do not use 99. In my system, I can hear dramatic differences between 99 and 100.

2) Dip Switches/attenuators. If at the 100 setting the volume is too low or high for a target preamp volume position, set the dip switches inside the cdp to increae or attenuate the signal. This is done in the analog domain so is not as detrimental. If using a preamp, don't use the DVC to adjust the volume.

Running direct vs through a preamp has pro's and con's and there are many Wadia threads that go into this.