Thanks Rich
Telos 800 has three switchable inputs - Digital SPIDF, RCA and XLR - which allows me to have three systems running in parallel connecting to my Telos 800.
With that, I have a Goldmund chain E2E (including Goldmund preamp) for one of my preferred Goldmund house sound signature. And I have another source chain with a mix of different brands.
I deliberately connect my WADAX Studio Player to Telos 800 skipping any preamp in order to preserve and hear “WADAX’s sound “ and fully leverage its ‘preamp’ functionality - volume control , configureable output levels and output impedance which is a quite unique functionality.
I am super happy with the Player’s preamp capability, even at output level 1V, ( rather than 2V or 5V), the a player is able to drive my Telos 800 / Magico M2 with superb tonal balance and dynamics: some users may prefer different output level / output jmpedam depends on their audio system setup. ( For another well known DAC / Pre, I needed to use 6V but the performance is by far not as good as this Studio Player)
To me it will be even better if the remote volume control is more fine grained, currently 5 units up / down at one step change, and a volume level lock feature will be ideal ! ( in order to prevent accidental change to very high volume level)
Hope this helps.
Gary, thank you so much for your thoughts and detailed explanation. Currently I have a Vitus Audio SIA-030 integrated amp, very happy with it's sound, however it's a beast of an amplifier and runs pretty hot in Class A, hence my interest in the functionality of the Studio Player when performing the pre amp/volume control duties, the option to exchange my integrated amp for a stand alone power amp may well be worth considering.