DACs With Killer Built-In Preamps

I have owned the Meitner Bidat referred to in an earlier post and I now own the PSAudio MKII DAC TAS raved about a few months back. I've run both DAC's direct. One *can* achieve that last nth degree of micro detail with such a set up. But I've found that something is also also lost. I call it the "soul" of the music. I have yet to hear a DAC preamp that could match the incredibly organic and natural *sound* created when I let my Conrad Johnson CT5 preamp drive the system.

In my experience, there's just something "clinical" sounding in all the preamp-less systems I've heard. I would concur, though, that today's very best DACs going direct to amp *do* beat a less-than-stellar preamp and mediocre interconnects.

See Stereophile's latest review of the Pass Lab XP-30 for more musings about the joys of a preamp. What shouldn't be good sometimes is.

Steve,

If you're ever in St. Louis and wanna bring a fully tricked out SE, I'm sure I can rustle up a few audiophiles to come over for a shoot out with my CT5 and PWD MKII. ;-)

Here's the deal; plenty of people prefer the preamp-less sound. Plenty don't. My ears are open, but I know what I prefer so far. I know a number of people who went direct to amp, only to return to a good line stage later. That said, nothing would please me more than to dispense with a preamp, power cord and IC's so there's no "principle" at stake for me.