Thiel Owners

So I finally got time to pull the dead tweeter from my 3.6, and it was kind of odd- the front "plate" holding the tweeter and rubber parts on had separated from the main body of the driver, and I noticed the gasket had a twist in it, so clearly someone has been in there before me.  I ran a track through it and there was no sound, did the same with the other tweeter and was able to hear some tunes.  I'm planning to send it to Rob, hopefully it's a simple fix and I can be on my merry audio way.  

Unsound, sent you a PM hope that's okay, I didn't want to keep spamming the thread here with my noob knowledge of all things electrical:/

coop_301

I have a RME ADI-2 Pro AE powered by a LPS and have tried what you are asking. My system is Bryston/Thiel. RME (with digital volume control disabled by locking it at 0dB) connected to preamp sounds much better than RME (with digital volume control active) directly connected to power amp. 
I have extensively tested the audibility of the RME digital volume control and can assure you it significantly degrades the sound quality, no matter what RME’s designer claims. But even with the digital volume control disabled, I think the RME is too far below the level of your ML/Thiel. A true high-end DAC should nail you to the listening chair until the track finishes. It does not do it for me - I just use it as a headphone DAC/amp for my PC/video editing setup. It is good for the price but is no giant killer.
Best wishes.
 

asiaaudiosoc,

 Thanks very much for the candid opinion on the RME!  I'm not very experienced in all of this, but I know enough that when multiple people on this thread don't seem hot on a DAC, it's time to look elsewhere.  I was also hesitant due to all the bells and whistles, not really my style.

  I'm still quite interested in the benchmark, but as always welcome suggestions.  This weekend I found a CIAudio VDA2 DAC that I had forgot I had, I'm curious to try that out once I get the tweeter back (though I understand that it's probably not on the benchmark level).  Thanks again!

All

As we kick off 2022, if you guys have not done so, please fill out your Virtual Systems page. New photo added to mine now.

Happy Listening!

coop_301 & unsound 

The fun part about this forum is getting me and others to thinking about the subjects being discussed .  Preamp or no preamp , unsound's technical explanation got me thinking again , do I need an active preamp ? 

Asiaaudiosoc brought up a great point about the volume control , in my opinion it's the most important componet between your input devices and your amp .  I heard the difference between a stock and high grade Alps , it wasn't subtle .