If you're going to use the USB input, grab a DAC-2.
The DAC-2 does have a very nice preamp section, but I prefer the sound of their STP-SE as a pre.
The DAC-2 does have a very nice preamp section, but I prefer the sound of their STP-SE as a pre.
Wyred4Sound Dac-2 vs Preamp and separate DAC
I’m about to upgrade to either the Wyred4Sound DAC-2 to use as a Preamp/Dac or possibly considering a used Classe Audio CP-60 and Wyred4sound DAC-1. If I’m only going to use a CD transport and USB to play lossless files is there any advantage to having the separate Preamp/DAC setup. I would personally think the Dac-2 would be the cleaner path but I’m a little worried about the digital volume control. Any opinions welcome. Preamp also doesn’t have to be Classe but some type of balanced pre along those lines.