The future of preamps

Audiolabyrinth: An amp that is 3.58v to get it to give full output, is very unusual. Most amps are around 1.5v-2v in to get full output. In this case it could be likely you may need an active preamp.
I would still do the "Bolero Test" as it still comes down to if your source can give the amp enough volts to get to a decent loud level on whatever speaker you have, and if they are efficient enough you still may not need an active preamp.

Cheers George

Arthur is a man with opinions like all of us. It is strange all of the products he says are the best of the best are Coincident. Is this just a coincidence for Coincident? Highly unlikely in all honesty folks. At the minimum, it simply reflects his sole experience and preferences. At minimum.

With the WWW, anybody can be a professional reviewer so caveat emptor. People will naturally gravitate to reviewers that prefer their products for purchase decision reinforcement and info.

@ Grannyring, Hi, It is my opinion, that to fully realize a source direct to amp, you have to match the source out-put volts to the amps in-put volts to get all of the desired sound and power from the amp, this is an aspect, many audiophiles do not achieve!

Audiolabyrinth:
You don't have to match the source output volts to the amps max input volts. As you reduce the source volts with the volume control anyway.
So long as you can reach the desired max level you want from your speakers, it does not matter if the source is lower than the amp.

Cheers George

AudioL, I agree 100 percent with you. I did just that and the music sounded very good direct, just not as good as my preamp. Both made good music for sure!