Interesting.. Good to hear I'm not the only one
What combination are you currently running that way? And I'm curious which pre-amps you've tried, and how they influenced the sound.
Currently, I have the full Bel Canto stack: CD2 transport, DAC3 DAC w/digital volume control, and Ref1000 monoblocks into a pair of Sonus Faber Cremona M's. Bel Canto definitely makes their stuff to run without a preamp; with a preamp in between the DAC3 and the Ref1000's, the sound quality degraded noticeably. I actually went to my dealer to shop amps; I had decided to replace my Simaudio i7, as it just wasn't letting the full beauty of my Cremona M's come through. I had intended to stay in the Simaudio line, but really enjoyed a side session we had with the Bel Canto Ref1000's. At that time I was listening to the BC stuff via a conrad-johnson preamp. I played with a bunch of different configs (dealer carries Sim, BC, c-j, Rogue, primarily), and found that each time I added a Bel Canto product in lieu of another company's offering, the level of immediacy and transparency improved greatly, and removing ALL analog from the chain improved the sound yet another order of magnitude.
I was initially quite surprised at this, as I've never been a fan of running sans preamp. I have tried twice previously in my house, once with a Cary and once with a dCS DAC. Both times I liked having a preamp in place better. I also tried at my friend's house with his old Wadia CDP. Again, we preferred running a preamp.
But the Bel Canto's digital attenuation essentially seems completely seamless to me. I notice no loss of resolution in my system. In fact, quite the opposite was true--as I said, the increase in transparency and immediacy were pretty startling. It was clear to me that this was the way to configure the Bel Canto stuff, if you want to run it. So I bought the whole kit and caboodle.
It does create a problem with how to integrate the analog. I've thought about ways to evaluate going pre-amp free with the turntable. It would require the initial cartridge gain, especially for MC, and the RIAA EQ. But I wonder just what the quality might be.
I have been considering using my SD702 to do this... Run a phono stage directly into the 702, and feed the DAC3. According to Bel Canto, you lose little by doing this. It "feels" a little weird, though, I admit; at that point, I might as well record with the 702 and drop it to my hard drive... So currently my TT stays in my all-analog all-tube "home office" rig. It doesn't get much use, honestly, which is kinda sad as I have some wicked good LP's which I do not have a duplicate of in the digital realm. I just keep waffling on what to do; every time I think about bringing the TT downstairs, I think, "why would I a/d this?" and then also realize, "I have no time to record and track this out" so there it stays. LOL.
I didn't see a digital attenuator with the DacMagic. Does it have one?
Unfortunately, no. I bought the DacMagic for a system which is just now shaping up. My wife and I are finishing our basement, so I am assembling a little of a "leftover hifi" down there. I needed a digital front end, heard good things about the DacMagic, decided to try it, and am honestly blown away by what you get for ~$500. Depending upon the system, as I said, I didn't even notice much of a different between the DacMagic and some pretty pricey sources. In my main system, though, it was noticeably less superior than the Simaudio stuff (at the time I evaluated the DacMagic I fed it with my Simaudio Supernova into a Pass Labs INT-30A, possibly the most revealing amp I've ever heard in my life). It's damn good, tho.
BTW, I used to own a DNA-125. I really liked that amp. I had it paired with the RLD-1 preamp, which I also thought was quite good. I've often wondered what McCormack's new stuff sounds like... Nowhere to hear it locally anymore, tho.
If you have your system gain matched so well that you can run wide open nearly all the time, that's simply ideal, I'd think. The one thing I've pondered over the years is that perhaps I didn't like running without a preamp in prior systems because of a impedance mismatch between my source and the amp. In that case, a "buffer" may fix things and bring your system to a new level. These things have some scuttlebutt right now, but others have preceded them in the US marketplace:
http://bursonaudio.com/burson_buffer_160.htmWe're kind OT now