Considering (click click pop) the guy (pop pop) is still (click pop) using a (pop pop pop) midiman CO2 (click POP) in his (pop pop click pop) signal chain (click CLICK) is this line (pop POP POP) of questioning (click CLICK) really RELEVANT?
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I run a pre-amp a/d (V3) to provide phantom, clean gain, and digital conversion (and optical) in one small package, in a convenient, pleasing to my ears, quality way. Why others do is up to them. Putting the signal up closer to 0 utilizes more bits, gives more dynamic range (the difference between the quiet vs loud parts) and allows (with a high quality pre-A/D stage) the signal to be recorded at a level that requires less amplification on the playback end, thus allowing reasonable listening volumes on less than optimum playback systems with less added noise from amplification on a less than optimum playback system (or something like that).