The future of preamps

+1 Grannyring, Vicdamone, Charles1dad, and Swampwalker. LOL!!

@ Almarg, Hi, I am sorry, I did not mention my source of info was from krell, when we were dicussing the input sensativity of the krell 700cx, the 18 volts is max, that is never used!, the amp gets 6 to 8 volts,pending what model krell pre-amp being used, that has nothing to do with cast, thats balanced!, then I was saying a source componet with a real analog or transformer based volume control running direct to amp has the performance I mentioned above, not the digital volume control that likly will do bit stripping of the signal!, and if you actually have a very high quality pre-amp that has the transparency of a direct to amp source componet has?, thats likly due to the gain that pre-amps have, you hear more information, more sound, sometimes, more dynamics, pending on the pre-amp used, not really more transparency!,

An example of what I am saying about a source direct to amp was wadia, just one of the few that actually works better used direct to an amp versus a pre-amp, I will indeed miss wadia!, cheers gentleman.

My Preamp is staying..... (to borrow our President's one historic quote)....
PERIOD!!!!!

Wadia is still very much around. Owned by the same company that owns ARC. They are a good example of why an analog preamp is handy- their volume control is an example of what I was talking about earlier.

Audiolabyrinth, I can tell you with great confidence that you have your numbers wrong. Krell amps can be driven to full output by any preamp made, so they have at least 30 db of gain. That means that they need less than 2 volts. I bet though that their *preamps* can make 18 volts (we can make 32 volts with ours) before clipping; this is done to keep the preamp totally unstressed while doing its job.

Mapman, the reason not to own a digital preamp is simply that you will have to sell the unit to upgrade. So far all digital products have had a short shelf life as digital continues to evolve. Analog is a bit more stable design-wise.