Why go through a preamp?

[poppachubby]

I imagine the tubed pre will slow down the digital excitement, but make it more listenable. As you have observed, there is a musical quality when tubes are involved.

Frankly, I would much rather have a wonderful preamp voicing my system than not, particularily if you are stretching to find reasons against it. Signal degredation is a fine argument, but when the gear is of a high quality, it becomes less of a concern IMO.

Tubed or horrid state, it doesn't matter to me but in your case the tubes will be a bonus I think. I have excellent examples of both types and have come to the conclusion that I love them both.

Also consider tube rolling as a way to improve or simply change the sonic character.

[Ajani]

I imagine the tubed pre will slow down the digital excitement, but make it more listenable. As you have observed, there is a musical quality when tubes are involved.

Frankly, I would much rather have a wonderful preamp voicing my system than not, particularily if you are stretching to find reasons against it. Signal degredation is a fine argument, but when the gear is of a high quality, it becomes less of a concern IMO.

Tubed or horrid state, it doesn't matter to me but in your case the tubes will be a bonus I think. I have excellent examples of both types and have come to the conclusion that I love them both.

Also consider tube rolling as a way to improve or simply change the sonic character.

I actually see it the opposite way: when your gear is of a high enough quality then you don't need a pre to 'tailor' the sound between source and amp.

IMO, having to put a pre in the signal path means you don't like your source/amp as much as you could... So perhaps the better investment is a better source/amp rather than a middleman (pre)...

For example; instead of getting a tube pre to insert between a DAC (with variable out) and a high powered SS amp, the better option would probably be to get either a hybrid amp or a high powered tube amp and connect directly to the DAC...