While I, in theory, agree that the preamp is the "brains" of the system, your DAC is at the front of the system. If you have a fantastic preamp and a mediocre digital converter, you will not hear what the preamp can do, only what the dac's abilities pass on to the preamp. And then how would you know the preamp's total capabilities (i.e., its highest level of revelations).
It's like driving a Maserati on Sears and Roebuck tires. You will NOT get the total effect of the Maserati, even though it is more "important" than the tires.
A front end is the "money piece" of a system, and THEN the preamp.
I'm surprised to read otherwise, although, to be fair, Dave Wilson did an experiement with a pair of 1,000 speakers with a very expensive front end, and then reversed it: a pair of Sashas with an iPod. Naturally (and I say this as someone who knows Dave), the second setup won. I would imagine what Dave recorded to use on the iPod was atypical (as in, not typical) of the recordings others would have, so that is my caveat.
If you have, for instance, A Bryston BDA-1 and a Modulus 3A, it'll sound fantastic. If you have a JVC XL Z-1010TN CD player and a Modulus 3A, not so much. (I've had both, so I know of what I speak). EVERYTHING COUNTS, so you're eventually going to want components of equal rank in order to achieve the best sound.
Common wisdom is, though, that the preamp is the "heart" of the system.
You'll have to audition this out for yourself. There are places with 30-day return policies, such as Music Direct. I've bought and returned items, because they just didn't perform as expected in my system.
It's like driving a Maserati on Sears and Roebuck tires. You will NOT get the total effect of the Maserati, even though it is more "important" than the tires.
A front end is the "money piece" of a system, and THEN the preamp.
I'm surprised to read otherwise, although, to be fair, Dave Wilson did an experiement with a pair of 1,000 speakers with a very expensive front end, and then reversed it: a pair of Sashas with an iPod. Naturally (and I say this as someone who knows Dave), the second setup won. I would imagine what Dave recorded to use on the iPod was atypical (as in, not typical) of the recordings others would have, so that is my caveat.
If you have, for instance, A Bryston BDA-1 and a Modulus 3A, it'll sound fantastic. If you have a JVC XL Z-1010TN CD player and a Modulus 3A, not so much. (I've had both, so I know of what I speak). EVERYTHING COUNTS, so you're eventually going to want components of equal rank in order to achieve the best sound.
Common wisdom is, though, that the preamp is the "heart" of the system.
You'll have to audition this out for yourself. There are places with 30-day return policies, such as Music Direct. I've bought and returned items, because they just didn't perform as expected in my system.