[AllanS]

This is a generic question but I figured this is a good place to ask as Frank has mentioned that the DVA Digital Preamp is all that's needed in a digital system.
Supposing I have no analog components in my system, would there be any benefits to inserting any one of the AVA analog preamps between the DVA Digital preamp and any one of the AVA power amps?

[Rusty Jefferson]

Imho, no. Run the dac/preamp balanced, not single ended. Sounds best that way. I'm sure others will chime in.

[mr_bill]

Get the van alstine A2D converter and use it with the digital preamp. I have an extra one and it’s a really great unit.

[JCarney]

When I switched to a digital amp from Pascal, I did what Rusty suggested and ran balanced and controlled the volume in the digital domain. A friend who had a similar set up decided to try an analog pre, and he really liked it. He said it fleshed out the music, and I have to admit it did a little something for the better. In his system I heard the benefits. I liked what I was hearing at home so I did not try it there.

JCarney

[floresjc]

I just upgraded from a Vision preamp with the Mark V dac to the digital preamp. The MK V is essentially the DVA digital dac prior generation minus volume controls.

While the DVA digital pre is a newer generation slightly, I did feel the overall sound is better than the preamp and dac pair I was just using. I have a few AVA preamps laying around and I’ve never felt the need to insert one to shape the sound. The DVA is just so clear and all that’s left is the sound. I’m not even using it to its fullest capability. Mine is connected unbalanced to a 15 year old insight amp.

As soon as I can scrape a few bucks together I’ll want to run this fully balanced into the mono blocks Frank offers. I love the sound the DVA offers and I also love having one less piece of gear in the stack.

[AllanS]

Many thanks all your help.  I’m not one of those who’d likely pick up on any subtle differences anyway.