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DACs With Killer Built-In Preamps

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I see a lot of DACs with volume controls with the ability to act as a preamp. The Audio Research Reference Dac/Digital Media Bridge ($15k) has a volume control and a lot of innards of its Reference 5SE preamp...which makes for a very serious preamp section on that DAC.

Are there any DACs with voulume controls under $7k that can compete with top-tier preamps?
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128x128mitch4t

Showing 2 responses by edorr

edorr
714 posts
 
Also look into the Aesthetic pandora. It has a preamp / VC option based on technology from their acclaimed calypso tube preamp. It is supposed to be a phenomenal DAC to boot. It is right at your pricepoint.
edorr
714 posts
 
Grannyring, I went the other direction. I never found a preamp below $10K (never tried one over $10K) that bested a well implemented VC in the DAC and hence always ended up selling the preamp. Then a trade in Ref5SE showed up and I gave the preamp one last ditch try. It beat the crap out the DAC VC. I think the reality is both DAC + VC and preamp price/performance continues to improve. My hypothesis is the Ref5SE level of performance would set you back >20K just two years ago, but this level preamp will handily beat the preamp-less route.
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