Preamp for mc275le. Need advice, please

Ghasley,

Clearly DACs don't have expiration dates. But take a look at what kind of sound a $1k DAC bought you 10 and 5 years ago, and what it gets you today. That's my point. The same can be said at any given price point.

A C2200 (to take Mc, since the OP is looking at them) is about $3.5k today used, it was maybe $4k 3 years ago (used), and will likely not loose much value in 5 years. Can't say the same for DACs. How much are synch USB DACs worth today compared to their price 5 years ago?

Having said that, we do have very good sound from relatively affordable DACs today. I agree with that. But just like asych USB rendered synch USB obsolete on the last 5 years or so, who knows which of today's accepted technologies will be deemed obsolete in a few years?

Again, I agree with Lewinskih01. I have heard some older DAC's sound extremely good, however they did not have a USB input, and connection was digital coax from a CD transport. Yes, you can use black box convertors, then requiring an extra cable, however this can result in an increase of digital jitter, not good for the sound quality. My understanding is that asynchronous USB is superior to synchronous USB because of less jitter. As Lewinskih01 says, who knows what type of digital interface is around the corner that will be even better, and having a single component will be better than using black box adapters.

Wow! Thanks for the great information & reply ;))
Thank you very much!

But let me stress my question:
- I m concerned with the C50 DAC's sound quality. Is there any problem with the C50 DAC? I m confused with all the talk around this on the web.
- Should I consider a different equipment to pair with the mc275? (need to be from Mcintosh )

I mainly will be steaming music from my laptop via usb and from my apple tv via toslink and from my old CD via coax (one of this days I'll go for a Mcintosh CD player too ;)

My budget is around 7k €

Thanks in advance
& Sorry my bad english

There is nothing wrong with the DAC on the C50 if you are using the newer MC275. Because mixing old and new equipment just doesn't work. I have 2 MC275-V with C2300 and B&W 802 Diamond, they match well, sound fantastic with no problem.
If you streaming via USB, Get the newest Parasound ZDAC With all Asynchronous Input for $475. You will be enjoying all kind of music you play instead of tweaking for next 10 years.

I'll again make my point. Dacs today, note I am saying today, sound very nice on the whole and extremely nice in specific circumstances. The C50 and the C2500 BOTH come with a decent dac, built in, for basically no extra charge. Now then, lets say 5 years from now, you can always add a new external dac if you believe the additional sound quality is evident to your ears. The internal dacs on todays Macs are actually pretty decent and I've had some pretty good ones come through my system through the years. The Macs are not bleeding edge mind you but I find the one in my Mac very nice and I look at is as a nice casual listening dac, especially when you think about always having a reasonable sounding dac with an excellent power supply/output stage implementation.

All due respect but the c2200 and its depreciation curve has little to do with the dac implementation of the c50 or the c2500. I've had a c2200, it was a great pre. The c2300 was better, quieter and had a much better phono stage. The c2500 is better still with a free dac. People act like dacs introduced tomorrow will be revolutionary when compared to dacs today. While change is inevitable and ususally for the better, it is not always so clear cut as some expouse. I heard a 20 plus year old Levinson 30.6 dac recently that was still amazing. Horses for courses. For many, a reasonably priced dac today may be all they ever need and Mac waited to integrate one until the addition of a reasonably priced built in dac met their standards for inclusion. Are they the best Mac is capable of producing? Of course not. They build other products to fill that need.

Please do your research and listen for yourself. The C50 and the C2500 I believe have different dacs and different implementations so check for yourself.