If I already have a strong speaker amp, should I just connect my DAC straight to the amp, and skip using a pre-amp in between, for best sound quality? It’s nice to have a local volume knob on my ATOM pre-amp, but I think there also could be quality loss by using it between a more expensive DAC & speaker amp.
There has to be a volume control somewhere.
If your DAC has volume control, you don’t NEED one.
I went passive pre for a couple of years in my 2ch setup.
My 2c is a GOOD preamp can be a big win, but they aren’t cheap.
If your not willing to spend a significant amount on the preamp, then go passive.
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The speaker amp(A-100) has a volume knob, and I can adjust my PC/Winamp volume. But the point of the pre-amp is just to boost the DAC(d50s/Bifrost/Mojo) signal, right?
If you’re using an integrated amp (which has volume control), normally you’d connect the DAC straight to it and leave the DAC at full volume. A preamp’s main purpose is for controlling volume.
An active preamp may be able to boost the signal. But a passive one can’t.
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As marcgii says, what you have is an integrated amp, I.e. it has a preamp built in, so you just connect the DAC to it and use the amps volume control.
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Ah, never heard of active/passive for pre-amps before.
A good proper (active) Pre Amp will always sound better than just a resistor or the digital volume control of the DAC. Otherwise, they wouldn’t sell $50K+ Pre amps
I don’t think I’ve even seen a DAC that has a volume control lol… Interesting. So a “power amp” has no volume knob, right? "Integrated"s do.
Most DACs like from SMSL, Topping etc. have a remote that has volume plus and minus which essentially lowers the DACs output and therefore works as a volume control. Integrated amps have a pre amp and power amp build in. If you buy seperates, you have the power amp which has no volume control an only one input and a preamp which has a volume control, multiply inputs and a input selector.
Some people might say that seperates sound better but a well desinged integrated amp can be similarly good (the reviewer Zero fidelity always says that up to $10,000 integrated amps are good enough).
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I see. I’ve had 2 or 3 Topping DACs so far with no remotes or vol knobs, but the SMSL amp I had had a remote. Budget stuff, tho. Changing volume at the DAC just seems weird to me… It must be changing the output voltage, when it changes volume? Or does voltage somehow stay the same?
Volume is just volts.
The smsl is likely doing the reduction in volume in the digital space, the same as changing it in windows or OSX. It may or may not loose information doing that depending on how it’s done, the bit depth of the input signal and the dynamic range of the output.
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Separates aren’t inherently better, and I wouldn’t go that way at lower price points. You really do need to spend a lot on an active pre for it to make sense.
Things go separate at the higher end because the packaging makes sense, I run a pair of tube monoblocks 130W class A, they pump out an enormous amount of heat and because of the power supplies, each one weighs 80lbs.
It would just not be practical to package the equivalent of those and a quality pre amp in one box.
But most people don’t need 130W of class A power, so it’s not really necessary.
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