Hi, I'm in the market for the Pre-amp and DAC. I had the PS audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC/Pre-amp combo and I sold that to go separates. I thought of buying PS audio Direct Stream DAC and Audio Research REF 6 Pre-amp. I started doing research and spoke to few dealers. Below are the recommendations I got,
1. Bel Canto EX DAC 2. Simaudio 390 Network Player/DAC
3 dealers I spoke recommended to go with Pre-AMP/DAC/Network player combo instead of separate Pre-amp and DAC. Is pre-amp's are getting killed by the combo?
I still do and always will use a pre amp... I have a great DAC with one of the best digital volume controls out there but it simply can not drive my amps as well as my preamp. Not even close.
@karurravi I don't have a lot of experience with Dynaudio but I have been to the Cary Audio facility since it's local and they used large Dynaudio towers to demo which was outstanding. They were using the SLP-05 preamp, which I have owned and was absolutely smitten with. They also used some Cary CAD-805 mono's driving them so obviously it was a great sounding system so there must be some synergy there for them to demo them together.
Personally I use an Ayre QB-9 DAC with a Mark Levinson 326S preamp but my speakers are Aerials and my amps are Parasound JC1's. I've never heard this combo with Dynaudio, however I can highly recommend both.
I used the Cary SLP-05 with a pair of Class-D amps like your Bel Canto's with great results. I was using some NuForce reference mono's. If the SLP-05 had more remote functions I would still probably own it. It's a VERY special preamp IMO. Good luck with the search!!!!
My experience with using a DAC to drive an amp is this had a pair of vandy 2 with a Rogue cronus mag up graded my speakers to Quatros so I had to have a high pass filters put in to my integrated amp so while the guys at Rogue did their thing I borrowed an Aesthetix Atlas and drove it with my Ayer Codex both very respectable components used them with the Quatros sounded excellent then I got my Rogue back hook it up and the sound was astounding the different between the two was absolutely astounding you would had thought I just hook up the Aesthetix it was that different so you are kidding your self thinking that driving an amp with a DAC is the best sound from your amp the Aestheix is a much much better amp but all amps need to be drive with a preamp my next up grade will be an amp and preamp
I now now use an MSB Analog DAC with volume control and upgraded MSB power supply instead of my preamp. Sounds fantastic. I would think that “less is more” when it comes to the signal path, so because eliminating the preamp takes more cabling and electronics out, there is less to affect the signal...
I like my ps audio DS dac with the bridge II. I looked at a lot of dacs and if the dac wasn’t fpga based, it was old technology and I skipped it. Every 6 months, I get an update that makes the DS sound better, and the current DS is rated in the top tier group. i used the DS directly into my classe monoblocks and when I went with a new McIntosh c47 preamp, sound quality jumped for the better.
I totally disagree that a digital passive preamp with dac is as good as a active preamp. Any professional reviewer .myself owned a Audio store for a number of years an active preamp has much more capacitance ,discreet power supplies and therefore better dynamics, soundstage size and depth and especially when the spl levels get loud the performers stay focused and right there ,not thinned out. A quality preamp normally is at least $3k and up. the lneartube Audio is an exception to the rule , I would recommendedthe Latest Mojo Audio power supply for that which is much better then then their upgraded $600 unit . The Lascala dac is without question more musical then the ps Audio dac. And similar in price, which I owned their latest and sold this spring. Therasberry pi is good for the monet, but cannot come close to anything over $1000. You get what you pay for . I will say one thing IfiAudio has been producing excellent products try their digital usb cable, and usb-3 purifier, and plug in AC purifiers Fantastic give hem 100 hours nothing in the $100 range anywhere gives so much for so little $$. And full money back audition.
If you don’t need other inputs for other sources, a well designed dac with enough output voltage should be all you need. BUT rare are dacs with a very good sounding preamp function, so comes the time when you can welcome a nice dedicated preamp that will bring your more tone density, dynamics, euphonic coloration, etc.
I do believe the future is a good preamplifier wich includes a dac module inside. We are seeing more integrated with dacs, and more preamps with dacs are to come. Dac miniaturisation is the reason many brands can now include these in preamps. I’m thinking McIntosh , Wadia, Chord, and others.
@erik_squires - What OS are you running on your Raspberry Pi? I have 2 RP3's running an older version of Moode. Doesn't really meet my expectations as a user friendly music server/streamer. A newer version might be better, but a different OS might be an even better answer.
Even if you have only digital a preamp is still useful; one way is if you want to run your interconnect cables a long way to the amplifiers (which might be sitting by the speakers with short speaker cables). Many digital products have poor volume controls, so that is another way preamps are still quite useful to obtain better sound!
With a properly designed DAC there is really no need for a pre-amp unlesss you need a phono stage, or have a lot of source devices. My DAC has multiple digital inputs and a single analog input. The output of the DAC is touted directly to the amplifier. It works for me.
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