My review of the Dared MC-7P Preamp with a computer input bought late 2017 on Ebay..


That’s bought on Ebay in late 2016..
This is my Review of an updated Dared MC-7P Preamp..
I had some ups and downs but now it sings.. Since the Preamp is now OOW I will tell all.

The first MC-7P (bought on Ebay for less than $900) almost immediately blew a fuse on the board inside.. The Dared USA people happily exchanged it for another.. The second MC-7P also blew the same fuse, so I sent it to Deltronics in Naperville Illinois..
My Tech was first rate and replaced the internal blown fuse with a slightly higher Amp rating ..
Viola, the Dared is fantastic.. The MC replaces my Dared SL2000 so I’m a long time fan.

The USB hookup worked OK with my MacBook Pro. You could hear a slight hum and it was actually from the Mac’s power supply. The sound was still very good and quite an improvement in sound from the SL2000..
I eventually switched to a Meridian Explorer2 with this small Dac going into the RCA stereo inputs.. The result was fantastic with a total shutdown of the MacBooks hum..
The MC-7P comes with Chinese AU7’s in the signal section, screechy and the volume knob was at 6:30.. I swapped out these tubes and I’m running a selection of signal and power tubes including Original Military and New made AT7 Mullers.. The volume knob now is at 9:30.. AT7’s are the way to go in an upgrade..

I blew a power tube twice and the tube was a Electro-Harmonix 6V6GT .. I replaced it with a new JJ Electronics T-6V6-S-JJ Vacuum Tube Spiral Filament which sounds way better.. The final power tube is a Preferred Series 274B / 5U4G it’s big like a bottle!!
The sound is now super and running The Meridian Explorer 2 with MQA into the RCA inputs with a high quality 3.5mm interconnect ( I use a Pangea $50) is a no Brainer.. I would have to spend 4 or 5 times this to get this kind of performance.. In this new year I’m contemplating just buying and re-tubing with the new JJ tubes, they sound great.. I did not use the Phono section..
128x128paullyrockets
Nice review,  but I would never be comfortable with a unit that had all those problems.
I had Dared i30 integrated in my office for a while powering B&W 683. I paid little over 700 and sound was fantastic for the price, especially after I replaced Chinese preamp tubes with EH.
But after several years of light use it exploded with fireworks.
Nice stuff and good looking, but way under-build, which topic starter just confirmed.

My Dared MC-7P crapped out on me a while back. I tried a well respected, higher priced tube preamp but it didnt have the attack or slam of the Dared. Anyone formerly use the Dared pre and move on to something they thought was as good or better?