DACs that do well without a preamp

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. ;-)

Hello @seanheis1 , Interesting opinion which may be sometimes true.  My Amps and Pre are perfect together.  My opinion on this is that the preamp boosts the signal making it much better for the amps.  Of course this could be more significant with my amps than yours!  I can see that makes little sense as I like my Tambaqui output at its highest level.  Regardless, the Pre G2 makes it sound better to me every time.  Have a great day!  Ken

@fastfreight thanks for explaining. I didn't mention but probably obvious is synergy. The combined sound of a preamp and power amp can of course be more preferred than the individual character of each piece. 

I use a FiiO M11 directly to a tube audio research amp using balanced cables and it’s phenomenal. Had a nice tube preamp in there as an experiment and didn’t matter much if at all.

FiiO gives you 4.2v output on the balanced connection