Between your preamp and amp, I believe that’s what’s recommended by the MEN owner’s manual for your type of set up. Anywhere else will bypass some of the inputs and negate the whole endeavor for those bypassed inputs. From my listening demo of the unit the benefits far outweigh the down side of the ADC-DAC.
Digital Room Correction: Where in the chain?
I’ve been contemplating the purchase of the McIntosh MEN220. I have a challenging room, and I’ve done my best with equipment placement, furnishings, and room treatments. My listening is 80% digital (streaming and discs), 20% vinyl. My digital chain is Roon/Qobuz, Lumin U2 Mini, Denafrips Pontus II 15th, McIntosh C-53, MC312, B&W702 S3 and REL T/7x. Transport is the MCT500 to the C-53 via din connector.
My hesitation is that the MEN220 requires an analog to digital to analog conversion. It seems like it would be best to apply any and all DSP in the upstream digital before my respectable DAC does the conversion. Is this midstream ADA negating my digital front end? Is there inherent loss in the extra conversion cycle? Or am I thinking about this wrong?
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- 17 posts total
- 17 posts total