theta casablanca 3 audiophile qlty stereo sound?


Does the theta casablanca 3 offer high end stereo sound as well?
dan001
I think so. Certainly a great start. If your budget could get you to the Superior II DAC's I think that might be even better and very close to the Extremes at a much lower cost. Actually, most say the Superior II are your best bang for the buck. It really depends on what level your trying to achieve. I really can't believe the price drop of these CB3's over the last year. Once Theta comes out with the HMDI upgrade these will be one of the best HT Processors on the market hands down.
thanx for the feedback stick70..i guess my dilemna is..i dont care that much about ht..though i do have all the ht gear..i really want great stereo music sound..but..want the ht to fall back on as i already have it all set up..hence i was thinking the cb3..does it offer fantastic sound in stereo and ht
I was struggling on what Dan001 asking as well. I was told no matter how good (claimed to be) and expensive a pre/pro is, it has no comparison to a 2-channel preamp provide both are in similar price or somewhat more $ in a pre/pro, due to manufacturing costs when dedicated to 2 channel instead of 5-7 channels. Especially when both has Balanced circuit which are costly. Correct me if I am wrong. For me, I would rather instead of spending the $ for upgrading to a Casablanca III for both music and HT, to a decent 2 channel preamp.

p.s. to be exact, I am saying like a Casablanca III/lexicon(extreme DAC) vs ARC ref.3 or Cary SLP-05....
You will get better two channel performance with the ARC Ref. 3 and the Cary SLP-05 than the Theta. However, you indicated (or perhaps somebody else did) that you are using the Dreadnaught amplifier. This will be your limiting factor with 2-channel performance. I have owned the Dreadnaught II, kept it for about a week due to its well below satisfactory performance in 2-channel operation. Sold it to a member in NY who wanted to replace his Halcro multi-channel amp with one that was reported to deliver better 2-channel performance. He kept the Dreadnaught II for less than a week and then sold it himself. He too indicated to me that it was weak with 2-channel performance. FWIW, my amp had three of the higher powered monoblock cards/amps and two stereo amps in it, so it shouldn't have been a power issue.

For absolute best two channel performance, you need either monoblock amps or a stereo amp. I have never heard a multi-channel amp do particularly well (I have owned several - Krell, Dreadnaught, Conrad Johnson, and others) with 2-channel performance. Of course everybody has different demands and considerations as to what is acceptable 2-channel performance.

For a 2-channel preamp, you have listed two very good and very different sounding preamps. The Cary can be purchased for much less used than the ARC. Another consideration could also be the Aesthetix Calypso and many others as well.