Preamps can color sound considerably. Surprising?

My Tortuga passive and has plenty of power, punch, clarity and detail. Width is nicely presented and depth too.

I use a 1/2 meter  Audience IC that goes to a Modwright phono stage from the Tortuga.

I am using 1/2 meter Kimber KCAG IC`s from the Tortuga to my ATI 3002 amp. The ATI feeds a pair of Revel F52`s. 

I use a 1 meter pair of Zu IC`s into a Dayton Audio SA 1000 subwoofer amp which powers a Revel Ultima Sub 15 subwoofer. I have 3 other subs in the mix too.

This is my recipe for a very satisfying, enjoyable sounding system.

This works well and It will play as loud as you would ever want.

Try a Tortuga passive, you might be pleasantly surprised by what you hear 👍 

@scm yes ^that^ is a recipe.
We don’t know your source’s output impedance nor the amp’s input impedance.

So it is a nice story, but doesn’t answer why it seems to sound OK.
But we at least have a combo that is good, and we can say why it is good then that is even better.

I am pretty sure that it the witches brew of cables are good, and they are short, which is also good.

@holmz ...The source output impedance is VERY low according to what I see listed for my ModWright 9.0X phono stage. Couldn`t find anything showing exactly what it is.

The amp`s input impedance is 28K ohms

Every amp I own, and have owned, is / has been rated to reach full power with less than 2 volts at the input. If you have a good 2 volts to work with, impedances are well matched, and the system caters to your desired volume level ( s ), when does the preamp’s additional voltage kick in? Most preamps in most systems are still used in attenuation mode, ime.

@mrdecibel 

agreed, the discussion now seems to focus on the likelihood of impedance mismatchesbetween DAC and power amp, methinks. In attenuation mode, all a pre does is add distortion if impedances are properly matched. We are finally getting somewhere on this topic…

Not surprising in the least. They all have their own bespoke sonic signatures.