Was not familiar with the McIntosh MAC-3. Looked it up. It's a 5.1 Channel Home Theater Surround Decoder circa 1997. I could see it being the weak link in you system. I'm guessing a simple dedicated 2-Thanks for that! That definitely makes sense. I'd tried out the Schiit Freya+ earlier in the year but it didn't work well with the combo that I had at the time (Freya+<Vidar<Carina's), and looking back on it, the Vidar and Carina's didn't vibe well. The MAC-3 was always intended to be temporary to me but this was pretty eye opening. Thanks again!
channel stereo pre-amp will be an improvement.
Scratching my head...Bluesound Node 2i direct to amp
Hello friends, long time lurker, first time poster. Earlier today, I hooked up my Bluesound Node 2i directly to my PS Audio Stellar S300 amp, just as an experiment and used it as preamp. Everything that I read would say that this would be an inferior way to listen to music to usual setup.
My usual setup is a 2.1 system that goes like this Bluesound Node 2i<Bifrost 2<McIntosh MAC-3 (I use this as a preamp I know that it wasn't its original intention when made)<PS Audio Stellar S300 amp<Elac Carina, sub is an SVS 2000. With the Bluesound direct to the amp, the sound was cleaner, more alive, and had significantly more bottom end from the Carina's (note-when I ran the Bluesound direct, it was just as 2 channel the sub wasn't running), so much so that I was shocked when I looked over at the sub and remembered that it was off.
So my question is this, how could this be? Is my "preamp" the weak link? I really felt like the Carina's came into their own running direct to the amp. I know that the Bifrost 2 is a better DAC than the internal DAC of the Bluesound. Only thing that I can think is that it maybe time to upgrade my pre :). Any thought's friends?
Thanks!
*Source material was a variety of MQA and CD quality tracks from Roon
My usual setup is a 2.1 system that goes like this Bluesound Node 2i<Bifrost 2<McIntosh MAC-3 (I use this as a preamp I know that it wasn't its original intention when made)<PS Audio Stellar S300 amp<Elac Carina, sub is an SVS 2000. With the Bluesound direct to the amp, the sound was cleaner, more alive, and had significantly more bottom end from the Carina's (note-when I ran the Bluesound direct, it was just as 2 channel the sub wasn't running), so much so that I was shocked when I looked over at the sub and remembered that it was off.
So my question is this, how could this be? Is my "preamp" the weak link? I really felt like the Carina's came into their own running direct to the amp. I know that the Bifrost 2 is a better DAC than the internal DAC of the Bluesound. Only thing that I can think is that it maybe time to upgrade my pre :). Any thought's friends?
Thanks!
*Source material was a variety of MQA and CD quality tracks from Roon
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- 17 posts total
- 17 posts total