Best preamp is no preamp: always true?

HI,
First post. It defies logic but I just installed a Krell KAV 280P pre between my power amp and tube DAC. And yes it does sound better. Better detail, better dynamics. Don't know why. Don't care.

Sparky

I lived with a Sonic Euphoria passive pre between my Pass amp and my Dodson DAC. It was incredibly transparent and revealing. It showed me just how good the Dodson and Pass are. That said, I preferred the sound of my system with the Modwright preamp in the chain.

I have never heard a CDP direct to amp that I could live with.

Actually, I have been reading and hearing more and more that CDP into AMP direct is very very seldom a good idea. I think you guys have highlighted gain and impedance issues as possible cause. What would be a typical sound "default" of a direct CDP to AMP? too harsh a sound (digital glare) or, opposite, slow/fatty mid-range ? or it varies?
Thanks

Newerphile, My opinion, lost dynamics and frequency extremes, could sound flat and yes make it seem more like a digital boring source. maybe not every case but in most, basically look at it this way a preamp is sorta line level amplification like an EQ would be, it will boost some of the frequencys to a fuller sounding range not because that is really its intention but because no matter what you are playing with the tiny voltage signal coming from the cd and any extra gain added to a signal that small well will sound like 10 times more effective than going from like a 50 watt amplifier to a 350 watt amplifier if that makes sense, is it pure?, is it Zero distortion?, nothing is, but the closest it sounds like emotion in the music the better in the end, this is mostly achieved by using a preamp in the chain than not from my experiance.

I've tried it in the past and it's not bad. But the preamp/buffer stage makes it a whole lot better IMHO. It never sounded slow or fat. Just slightly hard on cymbals and such. It's like having too much of a good thing that wears on you over time.