karlsushi
pfm Member
A lot of the explanations above have reiterated in my mind that a high quality unity gain buffer (cathode follower) placed between your DAC and amp is going to serve almost exactly the same purpose as an active preamp. The caveats of course being that you don't need any gain and you accept there may be some 'theoretical' degradation in sound quality using attenuation in the digital domain (which I'll add is not something I've experienced audibly with my DAVE).
I know the OP isn't, but if you're on a budget and you want to get a sense of what an active pre might bring to the party, I still maintain that you can't go far wrong with something like a Musical Fidelity X10-D (easily modded for not a lot of expense). In fact, you will probably find it outperforms the vast majority of active preamps up to a certain budget (subject to the above caveat re gain).
Or, you can spend a shed load on one if you like: https://www.whestaudio.co.uk/products/mastering-buffer-model-bii
I know the OP isn't, but if you're on a budget and you want to get a sense of what an active pre might bring to the party, I still maintain that you can't go far wrong with something like a Musical Fidelity X10-D (easily modded for not a lot of expense). In fact, you will probably find it outperforms the vast majority of active preamps up to a certain budget (subject to the above caveat re gain).
Or, you can spend a shed load on one if you like: https://www.whestaudio.co.uk/products/mastering-buffer-model-bii