Should I eliminate my preamp?

Just to update my own experimentation...I found happiness with an ARC REF 3 linestage, but only after I replaced the tubes with a spare set of new Sovteks that came with it.  The existing tubes were well within their life-cycle, but I did noticed it had the SED Winged C 6550 in the power supply, and there has been some reporting that the original ARC Sovtek 6550 sounds better, so maybe that was the difference.  I notice some good prices on Ref 3's, so I'm passing on my experience.

It was an educational process.  I came to realize how important words are to me, and I get deep joy in hearing the nuance in how an artist delivers the words.  That was the attribute that was so hard to find in swapping equipment, and what was lost in my specific instance when using DAC-direct or the solid state linestage that I tried.

Someone like Joni Mitchell can sound exceeding pure on many systems, but I can now hear how flawed she is, which let's me rejoice in her brilliance and humanness.  Of course, someone like Dylan can be endlessly appreciated in his voicing, inflection and phrasing, and my audiophile satisfaction is directly related to the degree to which it is revealed as a human voice in the room.

So the hunt for what a linestage can do was rewarding and recommended.

Cheers!

marqmike529 posts04-09-2018 1:20amThat is real possible. Thanks

If you look at it technically, the VH 1st interconnect has not only capacitance, but resistance (very little, except for the Carbon they once had) and also inductance.
These three parameters "capacitance, resistance and inductance" are the three component (parameters)  that make up for the "crossover filters"  in speakers.
And by halving the length of your VH 1st to 1/2mt you've changed all three parameters from what they were at 1mt.

This could be the difference you heard??

Cheers George 

I went from a tube pre to a passive to a direct connection.  The passive had more detail than the tube pre but sucked the life out of my system.  When I eliminated the passive (and the additional interconnect) the direct connection maintained the detail of the passive but had much greater dynamics and it was as though I removed multiple blankets from the front of my speakers.  I then changed my interconnects to unshielded and the sound further improved.  My tech recommended a "current amp" (actually a 0 gain custom built active preamp) - haven't tried it and not sure what that is...

@elf1   I have been using my Audio Research tube preamp and Bryston amp to drive Magnepan speakers for years. Recently I added a Oppo blue ray player to my system and connected directly to my amp using the balance cables. The reason was to eliminate the signal having to go through another piece of equipment before it hits the amp. Am I wrong or what am I missing?

I am curious what you heard in this experiment? Whats missing is what you heard.!

Many owners have complained about the sound of the Oppo’s balanced or SE output I can’t remember which it was.
But technically the ESS dac chip having a balanced output, would say to me that balanced should be the superior output, as to have a SE output another summing opamp would have to be introduced to change balanced back into single ended.

Cheers George