Primaluna Evo 400 Preamp pairing with McIntosh MC1502

Mike at Audioarchon is a great guy to deal with and will give good advice.  I purchase my U1 Mini from him but since sold it as mentioned above.  You have a nice budget and I'm sure Mike will give you several options. Keep us posted please  :)

@samzx12 Sorry my budget is up to 7500 USD. 

Thanks Samzx12 , The problem with my region is that many of the Hi fi brands are not available , at least for testing and trials. 

Fortunately I’m in the US 6-8 times a year and can get issues easily addressed .I’d prefer to stick to brands made in the US or have a strong US rep . Ill even pick up the DAC there. 

Ill see what I can try here especially the T2 and get some listening time in with different DACs in the US with a tube set up. This could take some time , but no hurry. I reached out to Mike at Audioarchon who I understand is a member here and deals with high quality DACs. Awaiting his reply. 

@bharat . The dac in the T2 is a very good one but I've never really compared it to other dacs other than the LUMIN U1 Mini and T+A DAC 8 I used to have. The separates were very good but I prefer the T2 especially with the S-Booster.  The advantages of separates however is the flexibility of changing the dac to the flavor you want.  Not sure of your budget? 

@samzx12  Thanks Samzx. I have heard good things about the T2. Would the Dac segment in the T2 be comparable to some of the dedicated DACs?  I Was thinking about Bricasti or the Some of the DCS models. ( NOT the Bartok. Thats way out) Rockna , Hydravox and others that are considered "detailed". It may work very well with a tube set up. I could be wrong of course. As for real estate , the rack I have has 2 empty slots which can accomdate the separates.

I have a LUMIN T2 with S-Booster and love it. I do prefer the one box solution over the separate DAC and streamer. Less real estate and power cables to deal with.  

Update January to the MC1502 and Primaluna Evo 400 combo.

Happy new year everyone. After much delays , travels , covid related Isolation and quarantine , I finally got the set up done.  IT IS SUBLIME. The music is just better. The Mids are delightful and ( for want of  better words ) full and Juicy. The bass is as I like it and the highs are non fatiguing.  Just when I thought that the sound  couldnt get better , another track makes me stop and take notice again and enjoy the sound and music.

Any case , after 2 months of reveling in the music , I couldnt help but wondering "whats next". What can I do to upgrade the other components in my Audio Chain. My Source is Cambridge Audio CXN V2 with Tidal and Spotify . and my speakers are Elac FS249s Floor standers.

My question is to the forum  is this... At this juncture,  would adding a DAC such as the Denafrips Venus or terminator or similar be better. in any way ? Of course   while keeping the CXN v2 streamer.   Alternately  Would upgrading to a  streamer / DAC be a good option. Such as a Lumin T2 or an Auralic  etc make more sense? Im quite happy with my speakers and the way they all sound together so I will make speaker and cable updates later.

Your advise on this and any additional inputs would be most welcome and very much appreciated. Of course If Im chasing my tail , please let me know as well.