Analyzing DACs

I’ve tried different scenarios:

Topping D70s dac acting as a preamp straight into a GoldNote PA10. Then a Creek integrated amp acting as a preamp preceded by the same dac switched to pure dac mode, Then eventually purchased an SPL Elector for a dedicated preamp instead of the Creek (same configuration).

This particular dac as pre sounded…pretty good. Decent stage, good clarity, bass weight ok.

with the Creek, sounded…pretty good. Just wider stage, more interesting tonally, but not as fast.

Enter SPL preamp…huge improvement, by several factors, at least. Wider and deeper, more balanced while being more tonally rich, but also more accurate/there. Much more clarity, bass weight, bass quality, presence, center image, believability, pace, speed, dynamics, refinement, smoother. Sometimes even have trouble stopping the music to pee, it’s so good.

It’s interesting how nuanced and variable sampling different components in the chain can become. But to me, a very well designed output stage (or series of very good output stages) can be a game changer.

Topping dac as a dac is great in this arrangement. Better than as a pre/dac. But a Chord Dave as a pre/dac? I would assume a whole other animal much much better than a topping pre/dac. But I’d still stick with my SPL pre, given the choice. Always with the prospect of getting an even better dac down the line.

I would say that the one advantage to following the ASR sheep is that the units recommended by ASR can be resold very quickly and without taking as much of a haircut in the process. 

I was revamping a system last year and the first two units that sold "measured very well".  Those were the units I liked the least and thought would take the longest to sell.

For my next test I am going to try the GD Audio R-27 HE as a preamp/DAC combo.  It fit my needs for where it was going and the sources that would be connected.  Also, their latest DAC did very well in Stereophile which does not usually lavish praise on units in that price point. 

@steakster : congratulations! You are some sleuth! Yes, I am "roberjerman" and I have 4319 posts using that moniker. I suggest you read some of them! I changed my alias here on Agon because I couldn’t log-on when I got a new phone. I did buy a pair of speakers at the Greenwich Village, NYC Crazy Eddy’s in 1976. A pair of Acoustiphase two-ways large boxes - an Advent copy - for $200. I used them for a few months with a Marantz 2270 receiver. Sold them in the spring of ’77 and bought a store-demo pair of Infinity Monitors 1A with Walsh tweeters! By that time I had an AGI 511 preamp, GAS Son of Ampzilla, Mitsubishi DA-F10 tuner and an Empire 698 TT with a Dynavector 20B homc cartridge. How’s that for a late - 70’s high-end system! Speaker wire was Polk Cobra Cable and ICs were Verion Triaxials made by Mitch Cotter.

You buy hifi to listen to it, when buying a component, listen to it.