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Accuphase CDP Owners - Straight to Power Amp??

I've got an Accuphase DP500 hooked to a Plinius 9200 integrated. Recently out of curiosity I bypassed the preamp section of the 9200 and connected the DP500 direct to the power amp section. I thought the sound would take a dive given the built-in freebie volume control on the Accuphase may be inferior compared to the 9200's preamp. Well the result was quite positive, I would not necessarily say better as the presentation is a little different, but definitely not sonically inferior.

To Accuphase CDP owners I was wondering if you are running it straight to a power amp or do you prefer to use a preamp and if yes why?
noelpastor

Showing 2 responses by noelpastor

noelpastor OP
60 posts
 
Digital - only for attenuation.
noelpastor OP
60 posts
 
After a couple of days listening with the preamp bypassed I did start to notice a little bit of annoying harshness on a couple of CDs (Chicago and Ambrosia collection CDs) - CDs which I normally enjoy when going through the pre. I posted this also on AA and someone there gave this link to an interesting Accuphase Q&A w/c I think sort of explains what i'm hearing.

http://www.dagogo.com/Spotlight/AccuphaseCulture.html

I also thought the noise floor without the pre to be slightly less blacker, at the same time ironically I also noticed subtly increased resolution and detail. Right now I can still go either way. It is quite possible that while the built in digital volume attenuator in the Accuphase may not be the best, the built-in preamp on the 9200 may also be less than stellar. Would really love to hear someone who has compared the Accuphase DP500 volume control with a dedicated quality preamp.
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