Active preamps all add noise, distortion and compression. The only good thing is they usually have stronger drive than a DAC. Just get the right DAC with strong drive and use a transformer linestage.
Once you have a low-jitter source, you will easily hear what an active preamp does to this source. Many times, the gains in tranparency and detail from low-jitter are lost if you use an active preamp.
Once you have a low-jitter source, you will easily hear what an active preamp does to this source. Many times, the gains in tranparency and detail from low-jitter are lost if you use an active preamp.