Is the source or preamp flawed?


In Robert Duetsch's follow-up of the CAT SL1 Renaissance Black Path Edition Preamp in the Dec issue of Stereophile, he compared the sound of the PS Audio DS dac direct to the power amps vs. through the CAT and found that it was no contest with the latter combination clearly superior and this was immediately apparent.
So, is either component here flawed - source or preamp, or is it something else in the chain - power amp, speakers, cables, etc?
128x128jon2020

Showing 1 response by robpriore

The question that needs to be asked is why would a preamp improve the sound in the first place. It's not a source, so it by definition should not add signal.

Isn't a preamp about having multiple sources and a volume control? It's about control, not sound or signal - at least in terms of being a source.

The fact is if we agree a preamp is not a source, if you accept a preamp as not being a source, then by that definition if you add a preamp and the sound changes then anything that preamp does to the sound is in addition to the source signal or a taking away from the source signal.

At the end of the day it's probably a subjective call, like zd542 says, at least in terms of what sounds good to one person or another.

For me, I want the purest signal so I avoid active preamps.