Does my amateur setup require a PreAmp?

[LordKitchener]

I got in to HiFi pretty suddenly and kind of jumped in without knowing too much.

I have a bit of a 'strange' setup I guess.

Equipment:
- TV
- Pro-ject Primary E Record player
- Raspberry Pi DIY Streamer
- Triangle LN01A Active Speakers
- Schitt Modius DAC
- Behringer MicroPhono PP400 Preamp

My setup is like so:
- TV -> Optical -> DAC -> RCA -> Triangle LN01A Speakers
- Raspberry Pi Streamer (Volumio) -> USB -> DAC -> RCA -> Triangle LN01A Speakers
- Record Player (Pro-ject) -> Behringer MicroPhono Preamp -> RCA -> Triangle LN01A Speakers

I have a very basic pre-amp for my Record player. I have this as it's a fair distance from my speakers and I read that quality can drop over distance with Phono, so I send it direct to the pre-amp and then via RCA to the speakers. The phono cable on the Pro-ject primary E is fairly short too, so it made sense to have a pre-amp.

I recently read about people sending DAC signals to a preamp, before sending to the amp (in my case the active speakers).

I'm not sure how necessary this is?

I'm not overly happy with my setup due to the remote situation. I have to manually switch sources on the DAC. I use the Triangle remote to control volume. I have my TV remote. I'm not sure I want to add another thing to the setup.

Any advice would be great. Eventually, I'll probably remove the TV from the config, but for now it makes sense in my apartment. I think I'll be happier with the TV removed so that the setup is simplified.

Thanks

 

[Nikhil]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you here.

As you already know it is not necessary to have a preamp in a setup to get "sound" coming out of it. There are of course two reasons why you would use one. The first being functional where a preamp serves the role of being the recipient of multiple sources which it then directs to your active speakers. This is where you find some calling a preamp a "line source". This has led to the preamp also being the device that is used to control the volume.

In recent times with digital becoming popular, the DAC has become the device to which many digital sources are connected. This has led some manufacturers to combine a preamp into the DAC. DACs with volume control are used this way as well.

The other reason a preamp is used is to amplify a low level signal from a source to line level that can then be fed to an amplifier. Here there is a subjective function that can affect the sound quality. Many in the audio hobby consider the preamp to be one of the most important devices in the chain. You will hear people use terms like "solidity" or improved sound stage etc to describe some of the benefits of using a preamp. All subjective and vary depending on your system.

In your case you have active speakers with volume control. You could try adding a preamp to see if you benefit either in sound quality or as a device that allows you to connect multiple sources in a convenient manner. It would be very useful should you decide to change your speakers at some point down the road. At this point you could consider an integrated amplifier that combines a Preamp, amplifier and/or a DAC. The other option would be towards separates. Each approach has it's pros and cons.

Welcome once again and good luck with your search.


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