I agree that it depends on the implementation. I’ve only come across a few DACs whose volume controls were worthy of being plugged direct into an amp. Some of my favorites here are the T+A SDV 3100 HV (which in all fairness has a true preamp stage built in), the T+A DAC 200 (its bypassable preamp stage is equivalent to a $3-5K standalone preamp), and the Aurender A20/A30. In full transparency, I am a dealer for both T+A and Aurender. That said, I have had many DACs on my floor and owned many personally before I became a dealer. Besides the older Modwright Transporter or Modwright-modded Cambridge CXN V2, I’ve never found any other DAC with a volume control less than $15K that sounded optimal without a separate preamp. This included a few Lampizator units, the PS Audio DirectStream, and the Mola Mola Tambaqui. All of those sounded worse, with the Tambaqui sounding significantly worse without a standalone preamp in the chain.
DAC DIRECT IN TO AMPLIFIER OR TO PREAMPLIFIER
For the longest time, I believed that the best preamplifier is no preamplifier. Eliminating a component from the audio chain would yield less distortion & greater purity.
Recently, I have had reason to re-think my logic on the matter - and I am (I think) changing my mind. Better said, assuming that the preamplifier in the component you are using (in my case, a DAC) can produce 95% or greater quality sound compared to the preamplifier component, then no preamplifier is the best option. The 5% represents the (estimated) loss of fidelity in adding another set of interconnects.
That said, most DACs do not have an outstanding preamplifier built in. I think most have average passive attenuators, and the better DACs have active preamplifiers that are very good - but not as good as a quality preamplifier.
What are your thoughts?
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- 94 posts total
- 94 posts total