... when he OMITS the active pre (and he has tried 4 different ones solid state and tube) he is reducing his overhaul system gain by maybe 40db or more...George, note that he is talking about a line level signal from a DAC, not a phono level signal. I am not aware of any preamp that comes remotely close to providing 40 db of gain from its line level inputs, even with the volume control at max. Typical numbers these days are in the teens, or even less. And with a DAC or other digital source, commonly the volume control of an active preamp will be set such that its gain, from input to output, is less than zero in terms of db.
Bill (Grannyring), thanks for the acknowledgement. Glad I was helpful with that issue.
Regards,
-- Al