@toro3 Good memory. Yes, the DAC 200’s preamp stage is very good, even though I get better results setting it to line out and using the T+A HV series preamplification. On its own, the DAC 200’s preamp stage will compete with standalone preamps in the $3K range.
I honestly haven’t come across a lot of DACs with great preamp and volume stages. I absolutely hated the one on the Tambaqui, even if the DAC itself is quite good. Lampizator makes very good ones, say for the Baltic 3 and 4 and above. Though it has a high quality streamer/server built in as well, the Aurender A20 ans A30 units are really strong performers and sound great hooked up directly to an amp. The performance of those units far surpass the preamp stage and volume control of the A15. For the Meitner MA3 and Cambridge EDGE NQ, I actually really like both units as a DAC with volume control. The MA3 is a DAC first, where the EDGE NQ is a preamp first, but with both units I don’t like their built in streaming performance.
I want to be candid that I am an authorized dealer T+A, Aurender and Cambridge Audio. I have no affiliation with Mola Mola, Lampizator and Meitner/EMM.