DACs that do well without a preamp


I am looking for a DAC to feed my DNA-1 gold power amp directly, streaming Qobuz or Tidal from a Bluesound Vault. Budget is $1-2K; would consider used, if worthwhile. Current contenders are Benchmark 3 HGC, Brooklyn DAC+, Gustard x26 pro, Holo Spring 3, Musetec 004 and Pontus ii. Looking for clean, detailed, uncolored sound that "lifts the veil". What are the qualities I should look for to drive an amp well, without a pre?
128x128cheeg

Showing 3 responses by jjss49

the rme is a good dac, many features, great value for the $ - it has an upfront and center sound, fairly flat and narrow imaging

the soekris 1541 (predecessor to the current 2541, some believe it is slightly better, but that is a separate conversation) has, to my ear, in my system, a more dimensional, fleshed out sound, much more proper imaging and spatial properties

i think the rme is terrific for headphone listening but less capable in an in room system where the user is trying to use speakers and room acoustics to recreate a realistic stereo image

otoh, the soekris dacs have a headphone output but i have heard some say that it is not the last word in sound quality with harder to drive hp's...  i am not so much a headphone guy so i cannot speak firsthand on this aspect

pontus (all denafrips) have fixed outputs, i believe all holo dacs are fixed analog out as well (i am sure i will be corrected if i am wrong on this)

under 2 grand, i would consider

ayre codex (volume knob, but no remote)

soekris 1541 or 2541 (uses apple remote to control volume), excellent sounding unit

stay away from chi fi dacs with volume controls, they are poorly implemented and will strip bits at low volume, making the music sound more mechanical (true also for musetec) - same for rme adi2 (this unit has many many useful features but a quality volume control is not one of them)