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DACs that do well without a preamp

I am looking for a DAC to feed my DNA-1 gold power amp directly, streaming Qobuz or Tidal from a Bluesound Vault. Budget is $1-2K; would consider used, if worthwhile. Current contenders are Benchmark 3 HGC, Brooklyn DAC+, Gustard x26 pro, Holo Spring 3, Musetec 004 and Pontus ii. Looking for clean, detailed, uncolored sound that "lifts the veil". What are the qualities I should look for to drive an amp well, without a pre?
128x128cheeg
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 

pontus (all denafrips) have fixed outputs, i believe all holo dacs are fixed analog out as well (i am sure i will be corrected if i am wrong on this)

under 2 grand, i would consider

ayre codex (volume knob, but no remote)

soekris 1541 or 2541 (uses apple remote to control volume), excellent sounding unit

stay away from chi fi dacs with volume controls, they are poorly implemented and will strip bits at low volume, making the music sound more mechanical (true also for musetec) - same for rme adi2 (this unit has many many useful features but a quality volume control is not one of them)

soix
9,456 posts
 

This Bel Canto e.One DAC/Pre is definitely worth a look. Bel Canto makes excellent-sounding DACs — I had their DAC3 VB in my system and its sound was near flawless to my ears. But what was even more surprising was how well it performed as a preamp. When comparing it directly with my $2400 Bryston BP-6 stereo preamp I literally couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Not sure how many other DACs could pull that off, but I’d bet not many especially in your price range. BTW, I was using a McCormack DNA 0.5 RevA (getting it back Saturday with full SMcAudio upgrades) and it was an excellent combination.  Hope this helps, and best of luck.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisb10dg-bel-canto-dac-preamp-da-converters

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cheeg OP
244 posts
 
Great replies - thank you all for your input.
 
@laaudionut Thank you for your tip on the Hegel HD30; it was not on my radar.  From the reviews I just read, it sounds like a very good unit, especially with your experience that it runs well direct to amp. I will certainly add it to my short list.
 
I am baffled as to why so many otherwise high-end DACs sound so poor when connected directly to a good power amp. It can't be the quality of the volume control ALONE, or the better companies would have fixed this flaw. Is the issue in the interface to the power amp (eg. an impedance mismatch), or is it a failure of the analog stage to accurately amplify the signal to line level?
alan_a
8 posts
 

@laaudionut ​​@cheeg   I'm a little surprised with your experience with the Hegel Hd30 without a Pre.  I have an HD30 in my system and I feel it's fantastic DAC but a while back I was chasing some noise in my system so I removed my Pre-amp and went DAC direct for a few days.  It was almost unlistenable with out my Pre amp.  I feel the HD30 with a tube Pre sounds best, I ran a CARY slp05 and just recently changed to an Audio Research REF6.  

soix
9,456 posts
 

I am baffled as to why so many otherwise high-end DACs sound so poor when connected directly to a good power amp.

Frequently it’s just that the passive preamp sections usually included in the DACs don’t have sufficient output to fully drive the amp it’s hooked up to. As always, it comes down to proper system matching. Personally, I’ll always use a separate stereo pre as I find it to be a critical component to get the best sound out of my system. But that’s me.

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