Are Preamplifier’s Relevant Today or just a Hinderance with Digital Playback ?

Would never go streaming as I love great sound I have Vinyl(TW AC3 TT with TW 10.5 arm and top mc cartridge) and CD player (Esoteric 03XD) streaming will never even come close.Today young people love easy so streaming will always be in. 

Don't listen to these guys in_shore, you know the truth, digital has re-written the laws of the universe. Digital has turned pre-amps into an irrelevant hindrance. Good catch. 

I think if I had a DAC with an integral passive volume control with a remote and low-impedance balanced outputs, I'd might be happy without a preamp.

But all the DACs I've owned have not had a volume control (other than digital scaling pre-DAC), have not had a remote to control volume, and have had an output impedance higher than I'd want to drive long interconnects with. 

The digital controls must be able to drive the amps you are using.  Some may sound very good but overall from my experience with the MSB and the Rockna DACs with digital volume controls, the preamp added much more dynamics, clarity, depth to the soundstage, better separation between vocals and instruments and faster more pronounced bass response.

Happy Listening.

@jond,
Yep, couldn't be expressed  any better.
Charles