I am using a preamp with my Berkley only because I am using the DartZeel pre and power which sounds best only with the 50ohm Zeel cable... otherwise, I would ditch the preamp as well, assuming I have no analog source.
Berkeley DAC into preamp or amp ?
I've done some searching but don't see many comparisons of the sound of the BAD Alpha DAC fed through a preamp versus into the amp directly. I'm interested in the degree/range of digital attenuation needed with amps of various gain. At what attenuation level did sonic degradation (if any) become audible?