Alex: Thanks, that's exactly what I'm planning to do. I'm just trying to get some feedback on how good the analog bypass is on the Outlaw pre/pros so I can decide whether to buy an outboard DAC or a preamp first.

Videodrome: Thanks for the link!

Slbenz: That's exactly what I was getting at, thanks. I'm looking at either a Lite Audio 60 or possibly a Monarchy NM24. The interesting thing about the Monarchy piece is that it has a built in preamp section (it's a very well-reviewed piece) along with a top notch tube DAC. Supposedly the weak link is the volume control on the preamp, though, so even if I played around with the preamp feature I'm not sure it would be as good of a presentation as if I ran the DAC into a better preamp. But your experience with the CI DAC is exactly what I was looking for. Right now I have a Denon 2900 Uni player, but I usually just run a dig cable into the Outlaw so as to avoid issues with bass mgmt. But now that I know that I can still adjust the bass trim on stereo bypass sources, I'll play around with things a bit more with the Denon.

Thanks, guys!