TjindarSingh
Member
Do I benefit purchase a preamp when my dac with volume control can drive the power amp directly?
Please explain
Please explain
Okay if no noise there is no sonically benefits of have a preamp in between?Unless you're hearing hiss coming out of the speaker, buying a preamp while you already have a way to control the volume of your system conveniently is not really a smart decision (financially).
and even if you hear hiss, buying a preamp may not necessarily fix it. but it will likely help if the DAC is the source of the noise.
Never happened to me maybe it's easy for it to occur on some dacs.Many members here do it for safety. Unnoticed reset of the DAC volume to 0db for some reason -> bye bye tweeters
Sounds Scary, never happened to me luckily.I find many digital volume controls to be irritating. I like a volume control that has only one turn and doesn't have the possible full volume reset (you only have to experience this with a powerful amplifier once). I had it happen with a Crown XLS 1500 amp hooked up to JBL A130's. Luckily the input was talking and not music but it still left my ears ringing for hours. If there had been a bass line, the JBL's would have been destroyed.
Never happened to me maybe it's easy for it to occur on some dacs.
So only benefit is security then
No Sonic benefit unless you need analog tone controls.Okay if no noise there is no sonically benefits of have a preamp in between?
Unless you need to process analogue (phono) stay away from preamps.Okay if no noise there is no sonically benefits of have a preamp in between?
Good point. I don't, but from reading around here it is pretty clear that many amps that integrate phono do a sub-optimal job at that because it's just a feature check mark for some buyers. I will never buy an amp with a phono input again, because I'll never use it... plus it adds unnecessary cost in my case.Unless you need to process analogue (phono) stay away from preamps.
Or digital volume control (even better).has a competent analog output stage and well implemented volume control
My requirements for a DAC+ Preamp these days would be:there's some people who think a preamp can add 'character' especially a tube stage preamp.
i kinda am personally of the thought that a lot of dacs seem to not take their vol. ctrl. seriously especially those where it isnt an actual potentiometer dial...
a good example of a family of analog preamps that have been reviewed here is the Schitt Freya and Freya S... ask yourself is that kind of thing useful to you?
also I think its an area the chinese havent really attacked? ie. analog or digital preamps???
preamps shouldnt be an expensive thing IMO but they generally are