Yes indeed Brian - what about preamps? The pre is ONLY the most important component in an audio system.
Some may run without one & thinking that they're better off, but they may or may not be getting all of the performance possible from their singular source. If you have multiple sources then a preamp is practically mandatory, unless you like fussing around with changing cables all the time. I don't.
The pre should be the best component in your rig & can easily be the most expensive part thereof. Passives can be less expensive than actives; compromises in favor of either approach can go either way. But you still want the best pre possible so as to not limit the quality being delivered by your sources. If the amp is better than the pre then it's not going to make the sound much better, & in fact can have the effect of better demonstrating the marginality of compromised incoming signal quality. Yet, as you say, they are often overlooked & are therefor compromised, limiting many a system that could in fact be much better than it appears to be capable of being.
Some may run without one & thinking that they're better off, but they may or may not be getting all of the performance possible from their singular source. If you have multiple sources then a preamp is practically mandatory, unless you like fussing around with changing cables all the time. I don't.
The pre should be the best component in your rig & can easily be the most expensive part thereof. Passives can be less expensive than actives; compromises in favor of either approach can go either way. But you still want the best pre possible so as to not limit the quality being delivered by your sources. If the amp is better than the pre then it's not going to make the sound much better, & in fact can have the effect of better demonstrating the marginality of compromised incoming signal quality. Yet, as you say, they are often overlooked & are therefor compromised, limiting many a system that could in fact be much better than it appears to be capable of being.