Looking for excellent DAC without a preamp section


I am in the market for a new DAC for redbook CD, but it should accept up to 24/96 signals. Let's keep the price under $10k new or used. It seems that a lot of the better DAC's out there have built in preamp sections which are undesirable to me. Examples are the Wadia 27ix, EMM Labs DCC2, Weiss Medea, Camelot Uther, Audio Synthesis DAX Variable, Esoteric D70, and some others I am sure. All I want is a great DAC with 2 volt unbalanced outputs.
jazzdude

Showing 1 response by jwaugh

I know there will be a lot of EMM labs recommendations (for good reason), but would suggest you should be sure to audition some of the most recent Audio Note DACs too - the latest generation (especially 4.1x) are exceptionally musical and are my own personal choice - for the $0.02 that's worth... The latest will be unfortunately hard to come by used but are a significant step forward in extension - particularly at high frequencies IMO.

In this range, there is a lot of great gear out there, so it becomes a matter of tastes and system priorities I think. Regardless, you shouldn't wind up with any glaring compromises regardless of which aspects you prioritize (assuming the selection is more recent I suppose)... so enjoy!
Jacob