wadia 170i to dac magic

I'm guessing the dac magic works like a preamp too (sort of like the Benchmark Dac1)?

Just ignore the label and connect the amp out to your preamp.

Just make sure you start out at low volume so you don't blast your speakers (since -presumably- your dac magic and your pre will have some gain)

Oh, wait a minute, it just occurred to me that I've seen preamps referred to as control amps or some such...so even if your dac isn't meant to operate like a preamp too, just ignore the label and connect the dac to your preamp.

What the manual means to say is that the output goes to the preamp section of an amplifier (such as an integrated amp or receiver). They weren't completely clear. The DacMagic cannot be hooked directly to a power amp as there is no volume control. So, if you have separates (separate preamp and power amp), the DacMagic must be hooked up to your preamp.

You would connect the digital output of your sources such as a CD player or Wadia 170i to the DacMagic, and then connect the balanced or unbalanced outputs of the DacMagic to your preamp, then preamp connected to power amp. If you don't have separates, then the DacMagic is just connected to one of your analogue inputs on an integrated amp or receiver.

OK, success, thx!