Do I really need a preamp?

Robcentola hi,

Almarg (Al) is correct, technically, going direct and using the built in digital volume control of your Dac2, in my opinion will be the most transparent/dynamic way of getting the sound from your source to your speakers, without added colourations of a preamp.

If you find after doing it you would like to "voice " that sound a little, then for no cost you can position your speaker a touch differently
eg: toe them in or out a little, or move them closer or further from the back wall.
Or for some cost you can try different interconnects or speaker cable.

These suggestions are far cheaper than taking a punt on a preamp that costs $K's in the hope it has the right set of colourations for you, as they do all sound different to each other, because they all have their own set of colourations.

Cheers George

When I mentioned to my dealer that I would try my CD player preampless into my amps, he told me I would probably lose a little midrange. 2 years after living with a preampless system, I added a preamp. Dealer was right. I was robbing myself of some pretty sweet (missing) midrange. I dont think anyone should make the decision to go w/o a pramp w/o trying a preamp.

you can find great sound with either methods . For the budget inclined it is not necessary . Just do not need to get newcomers to this hobby thinking that they need to spend huge amounts of money on a preamp to get great sound.

the budget inclined may still want midrange ;)

Even with a DAC capable of 10V output, in my system a preamp provides more bass power, dynamics, and detail. Up until a month ago, I've found that passives may be cleaner than actives, but to varying degrees lean the sound and lose some of the power of deep bass.

That was until I tried the Tortuga LDRxB preamp. It uses light dependent resistors (LDRs) to both switch between inputs and to provide attenuation. It has all the deep bass, power, dynamics, as well as delicacy in the mid/treble of the best active preamps I've heard. It also has a self-calibration feature that the user can run to maintain long term impedance tracking channel.

A Constellation active preamp that uses LDRs for input switching and volume control sells for $65K. The Tortugas are $1500 or $2400 for the SE or balanced versions.