Integrated DAC direct to amp is superior, except when it isn't.
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- 8 posts total
marcosb OP If!!! you love the sound of your Mytek and have enough volume from it, why color it, reduce the transparency/dynamics with a preamp? Cheers George |
I generally and formerly agreed with the guideline of not adding a component if you can avoid it. However, I recently needed to add a preamp to my system, mainly for the switching functionality between a Lumin D2 dac/streamer and an Oppo 205 both with balanced xlr outputs. I bought a pre-owned Levinson 326S preamp with remote. I previously used an Oppo 105 as a preamp but needed a preamp for switching when I added the Lumin. I was very pleasantly surprised that I perceived this preamp as actually lowering the noise floor, probably due to it immediately conditioning the AC current upon input, enhancing the detail level and creating a wide and deep soundstage illusion on good recordings that presented solid and stable 3 dimensional images that are very realistic, natural and enjoyable. I also found the volume control on the front panel and remote to be very smooth and finely adjustable, things I rarely even thought of previously. This preamp sounds very neutral overall but I suspect it may be adding a subtle something since my familiar music sounds even better through this unit. I believe I just may have become a convert to using high quality preamps in my system, which somewhat surprises me. Marcosb, I suggest you try and borrow a high quality preamp for a few days from a local shop and determine whether you enjoy your system more with or without an added high quality preamp. I suspect the quality level and price will be closely related but you just may surprise yourself and decide it's worth it. Best wishes, Tim |
- 8 posts total