As others have said, get a good dac. My C2500 has the DA1 dac and I prefer not to use it. It is based on the ESS chip which I am not fond of. I find it too forward sounding. Suppose you bought the C53 and a better dac comes In a newer Mac preamp. You would be constantly buying preamps with the latest and greatest.
McIntosh C52 to C53?
I recently posted a discussion on the weak link in my system:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/is-my-mcintosh-c52-pre-amp-the-weak-link
The general consensus of opinion was; the DAC in my McIntosh C52 pre-amp/DAC. So what do I do, upgrade the Aurender N10 streamer to an A20 (streamer with built in DAC), use a stand alone DAC or something else? Based on reviews I am hearing great things about the new DAC (DA2) used in the C53 pre-amp/DAC. Anyone upgraded from a C52 to C53 and noticed a significant improvement in DAC SQ?