Is DEQX a game changer?

fluffers - Your post suggests that your DAC had been able to feed your amplifiers directly prior to adding the PreMate. Is that so?

The PreMate is normally sequenced as a preamp in the chain immediately prior to power amps - or by ’amps’ do you mean integrated amps? & does your external DAC have the facility to feed power amps directly?

I’m guessing by ’according to the DEQX manual’ you refer to the Full digital output as on p20. If not, then refer to the image on p12 of the manual & either arrangement below will work :

- Server digital output->external DAC-> PreMate via analogue RCA inputs or balanced XLR if available->power amps (I use a similar setup but with two DEQX units master-slave). The DEQX unit will still digitally process speaker correction, sub integration etc.

- Server digital output->PreMate digital input (using inbuilt DEQX DAC but your external DAC is unnecessary)-> power amps.

The way you describe things I would have expected a further preamp or integrated amps after the DAC, using an analogue output from the DAC - this arrangement will of course work but I would personally minimise extra equipment in the chain.

thks- It seemed odd to me to run from output of dac to amps but here it is from page 24 of manual unless I am reading it wrong-
"The diagram above illustrates the use of the digital output of the PreMATE or PreMATE+. Connect the digital output, labeled Full L2/R2, to an external DAC via a BNC cable (or an RCA cable with a BNC-RCA adapter). The outputs of the DAC are connected to the power amplifier, which in turn drives the left and right speakers. Note that the external DAC must be capable of decoding a 24-bit 96 kHz signal "

thks- No  never used the external dac outputs before- Just want to run server to external dac to DEQX( serving as pre) to mono block amps- thks

I have emailed Alan Langford & Kim Ryrie at DEQX that the image on p24 is misleading & it would be better to say ’Integrated amplifiers’.

The illustration suggests a DAC that will have a variable volume output (?) to a power amp maybe taking a direct digital feed. As the DAC digital output is presumably a fixed volume then this arrangement wouldn’t work. If the connection between DAC & power amps is analogue then I don’t see the DEQX volume control/remote having any effect either.

From page 20 of the manual, referring to the single digital output of the PreMate and PreMate+:

This is the same signal as provided on the Main Speakers analog output. It carries the corrected audio signal for the speakers, optionally with limit filters for subwoofer integration. It can be used to connect an external DAC instead of using the internal DAC of the DEQX.

I would infer from this statement that the digital output is volume controlled, as well as being subjected to all of the corrections and other signal processing that are applied to the main analog outputs, other than D/A conversion.

I’ve never used the digital outputs of my HDP-5. But what I’m wondering is **if** the PreMate was purchased used, and **if** the previous owner was just using it for subwoofer duties, he may have disabled the main analog outputs in the configuration he set up. Which presumably would have also disabled the digital output, given the paragraph I quoted from the manual.

In that case a computer would have to be connected to the DEQX and the calibration software would have to be used to revise the configuration.

Best regards,
-- Al