I don’t believe an integrated with a DAC is a swiss army knife, although I understand the metaphor.
I have a Musical Fidelity M6Si. It includes a DAC. Overall I’m very happy with the unit as a whole. In my case I wanted an integrated and didn’t want to spend tens of thousands on separates (amp, preamp, dac, phono, etc.).
I think it comes down to budget and/or physical space limitations. In a perfect world where money is no object and space is virtually unlimited, sure, might as well get top of line separates in every category.
Key in any case is to look for something of optimal value. My M6Si MSRP is $3K and it can compare quality and sound wise to an amp, preamp or DAC separate that each cost that much.
I have a Musical Fidelity M6Si. It includes a DAC. Overall I’m very happy with the unit as a whole. In my case I wanted an integrated and didn’t want to spend tens of thousands on separates (amp, preamp, dac, phono, etc.).
I think it comes down to budget and/or physical space limitations. In a perfect world where money is no object and space is virtually unlimited, sure, might as well get top of line separates in every category.
Key in any case is to look for something of optimal value. My M6Si MSRP is $3K and it can compare quality and sound wise to an amp, preamp or DAC separate that each cost that much.