Best Preamp = No Preamp?

One thing that people don't always realize is how important it is for the preamp to control the interconnect cable between the preamp and amp. Passives cannot do that, but a good preamp can, if there is intention to do so in its design!

When had AA Cap mkII connected directly to Clayton M100 it sounded somehow uninvolving , dry, but after tubed Supratek Chenin was added to the chain it changed to magic, sound was musical, alive. I tried some cheap passive preamp it was disaster, much worse them without preamp.
I could neither believe nor understand how few resistors can damage sound so much.
I tried some cheap ($1000-1500) solid state preamps it was different or worse then direct. So in my experience good quality tube preamp is greatly recommended.

GOOD vacuum tube preamps seem to be common with a truly captivating, inviting sound.
I think we all seem to agree on that, more or less.

My experience has been on the pro-preamp side as well. As to preamp flavors, I'm fine with that as well. I've recently owned CAT,LAMM and Placette Active and Passives. The main problem with the direct approach is that the quality of the volume controls are very poor compared with those on great preamps, so even if it is direct, the distortion of a less than great volume control is very harmful more harmful than the additonal stages and ICs with a pre. As Atmasphere points out the ability to drive the amps through the interconnects, and I'm not talking about gain here, my Placette Active has no gain, but it provides a very low output impedance while buffering the source. A great passive with a great volume control with the right IC and amp can also work very effectively, in this case simply by providing a SOTA volume control (e.g., Placette RVC, Bent, etc). A DAC direct is a fine place to start, but ulitmately I think you will come to the preamp school.

I echo the sentiments that a pre-amp is one of the most important components you can have. Get a good one or don't get one at all.

I love what tubes in the pre have done for my system.