I was afraid of what I would hear when I hooked my 861 directly to a Levinson amp because of the large investment made in a great tube preamp. Hooked up directly through Transparent Ultra balanced cables it has great transparency and depth but it lacks warmth. The digital volume works great and didn't seem to lose anything when kept at 80% or more. I lost very little if any image quality but gained musicality when I ran it through a preamp. Vocals and pianos gained warmth and the base seemed better as well. Experiment to see what works best for you.
