I agree, if it’s the DA1 you can do much better. I have the DA1 in my MA8900. I now use a Pontus II that is much better. With the quality of your other components I would look at spending $5k or more on an external DAC that matches the level of the rest of your system. See if you can find a local retailer that will let you demo different DACs in your setup then you’ll know for sure what, if anything, you are missing.
Is My McIntosh C52 Pre-amp The Weak Link?
I currently stream music, from Qobuz, via an Aurender N10 streamer into a McIntosh C52 pre-amp for D/A conversion, analogue output, into a McIntosh MC312 power amp, driving Magico A5 speakers. SQ IMHO is outstanding/perfect, but, I am an audiophile, so there is no such thing as perfect! Time to upgrade something. It is my opinion the C52 built in DAC is the weak link in the system? Thinking of upgrading the Aurender N10 to an Aurender A20 (streamer with built in DAC) and feed the analogue output into the C52. Your thoughts please, have I correctly identified the weak link in the system?
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@soix is correct. @jastralfu makes a very good point I would suggest having a stand-alone DAC also. You're just swaping out your issue (The C52 having a built in DAC) with a new issue (having the DAC built into the Streamer). I am not a big fan of seperates either (I own an integrated amp), but have found disappointment everytime I had a DAC built into another component. I own a N20 by the way, with a PS audio DAC (version 1). I would also suggest listening to several DAC's, I have found they all sound different. |
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