2. digital
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Best DAC for my situation...Read on!

So thoughts and opinions please.
What I have and my idea.
Oppo 105D and Bluesound Vault 2 feeding into McIntosh C48 preamp.
I chose the C48 because it is a nice complete all in one box solution, headphone amp, mm and mc phono amp, lots of analog inputs with 2 sets of xlr inputs AND 5 total digital inputs.
Now I have both the Oppo and the vault connected by analog and digital inputs to the C48 so I can compare modes pretty instantly and I have to admit both cases the analog sounds better.
Which makes me wonder if the C48, although a great all in one solution may be the hold up as far as the DAC performance is concerned.

What I was considering as a trial is a seperate DAC that can handle the digital signals from the units and then output the analog signal via xlr preferably, back to the C48.
At this stage I have no intention of getting rid of the C48 as I really like the analog signal SQ as well as the headphone performance.

Any good suggestions in the range of $2000 used or am I really not going to see much improvement at that price range over the C48 capability?
uberwaltz
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,949 posts
 
Yes you can choose to use a favorite pre-amp as a personal preference tone control or not. Clean and accurate alone does not always cut it for all ears. Benchmark HDR DACs are in fact DACs built into a good quality pre-amp. You can swtich between both analog and digital inputs. No phono pre-amp though with BEnchmark. You have to add that still if needed.

I have a Bel Canto C5i digital integrated. It truly has it all. Digital, line level and phono inputs, 60w/ch. The most versatile and best sounding single device I have ever owned. If it did not work out, teh BEnchmark was next on the list but I have other Bel Canto amps that are top notch and I decided to give everything in a single small box a try first. Very glad I did!
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Some long thoughts ahead for sure
Benchmark
Mytek Brooklyn

Anybody have any good experience with Schiit? Seem to be seeing a lot of threads on them lately
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,491 posts
 
@willemj

I agree with you but with with a caveat: not all line level equipment has high quality output - so I would restrict my choice to go without a preamp only when using a very high quality DAC with excellent and powerful output circuits. Some power amplifiers and long cable runs may introduce a challenging load to a cheap line level DAC output and result in signal degradation (usually a loss of dynamics). So a preamp is just like an audio mixer in the pro music world - it buffers the line level signal by presenting a high impedance easy load and then has a powerful output that can often drive a more difficult load.

@uberwaltz

Schiit is not in the same ball park or league as Mytek and Benchmark and Bricasti and Bryston and a few others (lots of choice - Stereophile A and A+ is a good start)
hgeifman
2,356 posts
 
+1 Ayre Codex DAC.   I own the Ayre Codex DAC and it is outstanding and highly recommended (new or used).  It has great performance and can be used as either a preamp/DAC or DAC only. Please see:

https://www.ayre.com/codex.htm
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
The Ayre Codex does not have digital coax input though from what I read.
Mainly a usb DAC I think

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