In reply to:
I tried this with a borrowed tube pre-amp and noticed the sound subtly openned up.
I think you pretty mcuh answered your own question.
If you tried it, and you liked it, go ahead and do it for yourself! I have a friend who uses a tube-based preamp and a DAC with a tube-based output section. He hooks the DAC up to the digital output from his transport and the pre-amp's outputs are fed to some beefy NAD power amp. With his Von Schweikert Audio speakers, he certainly does not have a system to laugh at. That being said, I
DO prefer my NEC transport + Pioneer 1014 (rebadged elite 52Tx minus RS-232C, attractive front bezel, and 12V trigger input) + M60s combination to his system overall.
Because I am a purist, I prefer all solid-state gear (well for loudspeakers at least; with headphones, I wouldn't mind a nice tube amp), but I do have to admit that tube equipment has a very nice and gentle characteristic sound that can be attractive to many. I rather have a sound closer to the original source, even if it DOES mean that it isn't as "appealing," but then again, I
am a purist when it comes to audio.
