Analogue only preamp ideas? - no need for internal DAC!

Because my avr is now sharing stereo and ht duties, and would like to pursue better SQ for stereo with convenience of a home theater bypass feature, which seems only possible with a stereo preamp.

I think tubes are better than a preamp with a dac.

dont understand why someone who has a great standalone dac would buy a preamp with a dac.  Spend more dollars toward a preamp without a dac and it seems tube device is just better.

concerned about tube maintenance and long warm up period, need to learn more

thanks. 

So last couple of posts are basically saying preamps may be pointless.  Maybe a Simple standalone stereo bypass device without so many preampish wires so speakers don’t need to be directly between a dac and an amp (since amp connections are used by ht system)

makes you wonder what the heck a preamp is doing to the analogue signal on its way from a dac to the amp.  Sooo mysterious!

Thanks, watched good vid.

Paul, very smart and knows his Stuff, although he seems to always start out slow, meanders around and at the end of the journey, many a time, you don’t know where you end up. A brilliant marketeer. Keeping and prolongIng the mystery, ie. by limiting the completeness of answers to basic questions. After all, I think we all know that these products become woefully overpriced as those with cash ascend up a steep diminishing returns trail.

he didn’t focus on preamp basics in any real detail, Ie. the process of achieving sound separation, the need/processes for keeping the electrons quiet, maybe talking about how the signal is transformed in a more helpful manner, power supply interference issues, connector quality, value of installing very expensive components, etc.

still a nice vid that was helpful, but a need to learn more has not been satisfied.

Interesting. How does the passive atten. functionally work?  
Do I now use this to adjust volume? I now use a remote when using a preamp in bypass mode, this would now change?
Thanks