Bypass preamp, better sound, yet fatiguing?

All too often, I find that digital playback equipment is,harsh, bright, revealing, in short, in your face! That's because digital playback is all 0's and 1's, and no matter how much it's "oversampled" the smooth curve of an analogue signal is impossible to reproduce digitally. That's why some DAC and CD player manufacturers used tubed output stages. Going direct from the cd player eliminates some of the signal path, but then makes the signal even more revealing. When the source is of high quality (like a Wadia, e.g.),the result may be acceptably desirable, but as the qualtiy of the digital playback declines, the more "in your face", ruthlessly revealing, and fatiguing, it becomes. Hence, the analogue playback revival, smoother, and less fatiguing. Others may have more to add, as the above is nothing more than my own musing on the subject.

But in Hgabert's case, it's a solid state preamp and one from the same manufacturer as his CDP. In fact, I think ML claims the variable output on the 390s borrows from the 380s. I could see that perhaps he might find the direct connection lacks some oomph, but it seems strange to me that it would be fatiguing without the Levinson pre.

Well, it's not the cable. Just tried a Transparent reference MM XLR cable, directly from the player into the VTLs, and it's still "too" detailed (i.e., fatiguing).

Maybe there is an issue with the impedances (i.e., impedances are not well matched without a preamp in the chain). The output from the CD-player is 2.2 volts, so without a preamp, the volume control in the CD-player is probably only attenuating the signal. There is something the preamp does which minimizes distortion, and which appears to give the music more "body".