Preamp - what's the purpose?

I find it somewhat ironic that those purists who eschew the use of a preamp because it "colors" the sound will then seek out amps, cartridges, wires or speakers to achieve the tone color they seek. 

If you only have one source, no preamp is okay. As long as the source or amp has a volume control it will work. But some prefer the dynamics and/or coloration a preamp adds.

there was once a description of sound. American sound and British sound.

am. sound = big scale, br. sound = detailed.

americans like exaggerated sound such as boomy, more bass.

this is not true to the original music. 

cooked fish with no sauce at all = you can feel the pure taste of fish.

cooked with lots of sauce = you can feel the variety of tastes

either is ok, modified sound with pre or pure sound with no pre.

once you feel pure taste with no sauce, you will remove the preamp!

@r27y8u92 

Yes, this is basically my attitude about it...

raw fish with NO cooking = ultimate purity. 🍣

A Primaluna EVO 400 pre-amp feeding into the AGD Audion Mk3 is the best of both worlds. Granted, many customers have probably embraced GanFET amps with the idea that this would do away with some of the inconveniences of tubes and yet still sound like tubes. That is partially true but not true enough. With the tube pre in the chain it is finally enough.

The pre-amp warms up faster, creates less heat and does not contain so many tubes to keep track of. This works fine for me.