Pros & Cons of Buying an Integrated with Built-in DAC?

what about the two Creek units?  

don't they have good DACs?

Integrated amps like the new ARC and Mark Levinson have excellent built in dacs and quite good phonostages.  If you are interested in very high quality and not into the upgrade game you will have a lifetime of enjoyment with this level of gear. Also the devialet product offers excellent dac/streaming and phonostage options in one nice package (Micromega also has a new integrated option). 

you could consider something like the Vinnie Rossi ILO http://vinnierossi.com/. Its a modular system that in the future you could pop in a new dac or something else that comes along. makes the whole upgrade path easier as you don't have to change the whole box and can but modules as budget allows. not to mention its a capacitor based system so runs separate from your ac line. I've been eyeing them for a year now just saving funds. But in the interm I picked up a Luxman L560 form 1986 that's wonderful (50wpch Pure class A) so don't count out quality older stuff.

sorry it the LIO typo

I sent back the Peachtree  nova 150 today. It yielded more detail than the Jolida but the tonality, overall, struck me as very "dry" and "flat". Don't know if these are audiophile terms, but it sounded to me like all the sensuality and depth had been drained from the music. Not my cup of tea. I'm going to try a demo unit Wells Majestic, next, (considerably more than I'd planned to spend) and if that doesn't please me, I will probably resign myself to staying with tubes and go with something like a Rogue Cronus Magnum II, which would presumably be an improvement over my current Jolida 302B. Luxman might be just the thing, but even used, they're more than I want to spend. As my audiophile buddies with high-priced systems have reminded me, audio is an expensive hobby.