Best Preamp = No Preamp?

I tried going directly from my Metrum Octave II DAC to my Bryston 4B SST2 and the sound was too edgy for me. I also tried a passive pre but with the same results. Also, I could not get the volume I needed for some songs. The Benchmark DAC 2 pre is very transparent without the edginess of going direct. The Bryston B100 SST as a preamp also sounds much better, but not quit as transparent as the Benchmark

getting a cd-player, or Dac with very good type tubes and running direct to amplification has no hardness, edginess, quite the opposite, organic, way more transparent than most active pre-amps, and with full bass slam and tube magic mid-range if you get a hybred tube/solid state source with specs of below 20hz to 20khz and a little more, mated with good cabling, you will get incredible results with a high quality solid state amp that is high power and high current, this is my system now, Happy listening.

I went w/o a preamp and thought it sounded good but when I added a jeff rowland criterion, I discovered the error of my ways. I am firmly in the camp that the preamp is the key to the whole presentation.

a pre-amp cn add it's own sound to the total

Direct sounds thinner with less body, weight and texture. This had been my experience with trying the LSA Attenuator three times, Placette, several DAC's direct, and several CD players direct. To some it sounds cleaner or more resolving, but I feel this is either mistaken for "transparency" or some folks like that lighter than real sound. Ha! I know that sounds negative, but we do all have preferences.

To each his or her own. Just enjoy!