this preamp trend is so dumb.
You generally add a pre-amp because at least one of the following is true:
- You need some way to control volume
- You need to drive very long cable runs
- You need additional gain
- Impedance optimization
- You want to avoid digital attenuation
- You want to tune the sound a certain way (the pre-amp can't add more information that isn't already provided by the source though)
1 is not an issue, 2-4 are rarely issues, 5 is not an issue, and 6 is totally up to you.
Properly designed headphone amp with good quality attenuator (stepped, high quality pot or ladder) can take care of 1 and 5. If you want to add flavor, that‘s a different matter.
