DACs that do well without a preamp

I find reading this forum somewhat humorous. When I was young, I thought the preamp was more important than the power amp. It’s job is amplifying < 2 volts, so it has a proportionally large impact. Real world experience with how different amps drive very good speakers has changed that, but the only reason to forgo a preamp is funds. The other thing I’ve learned is that separate components are only better than integrate systems of an equivalent quality. A Boulder integrated amp will sound far better than separates from others costing less than ~ $20k. Or a HINT6 will sound better than separates less than ~$5k. I mention all this because the most affordable strategy over time is to buy something good and keep it. The expensive way to go is to keep buying mediocre components and then swapping them out for other mediocre components.

for mtdining: Excellent summary of affordable vs. expensive. I agree because I've tried both!.

If you want to go without a preamp I think you need to increase your budget by a good amount. People run the chord Dave as a pre but I have not liked that setup in systems that I have heard. I did run a dCS bank Tom without a pre into a Krell duo 300xd with gods results. MSB Dac are goood without preamps but I would be looking at the premier or higher. I have a discrete that does well without a pre but I highly prefer my system with the D’Agostino HD pre in it. 

i tried several DACs w analogue volume control.  All sounded better through my preamp.

I guess If you do not have a good preamp, it is a nice way to go.  A good preamp improves the sound to my ears, that I have tried.

@fastfreight IME, if you don't like how a DACs analog volume control sounds, it's because you truly don't like the sound of your amp and the preamp is improving its sound. 

The analog output of a good DAC lets you hear your amp for what it is. 

My RME DAC lets me hear my power amps, for better or worse. My Van Alstine amp sounds glorious. My Hypex amp sounds....meh. It needs a tube pre-amp. ;-)