Tact 2.2 XP: which configuration to get?

My experience is with a 2.2X not the XP so there might be some differences. If I understand your post correctly you are considering using an internal TacT DAC card for your subs and an external DAC with volume control for your main speakers. This configuration will work but not exactly as you plan. The external DAC would not act as a preamp as far as volume control because it would not control the subs at the same time.

If you use one internal DAC and one external DAC you must balance the level between the subs and mains using either the volume control on the external DAC or any volume control the sub might offer. Then leave those settings alone and use the TacT volume control to control both mains and subs simultaneously.

You will not have to balance the two volume levels exactly. Just get them within normal operating ranges with some headroom to spare. The TacT measurement and correction process will set the final relative volume levels.

Here is a possible difference between 2.2X and 2.2XP: On the 2.2X DO NOT USE the menu "digital out" for the external DAC. You might damage something. The "digital out" setting is ONLY if you use TacT digital amps and need the TacT processor to control them. Don't worry about not selecting "digital out", you will still get a digital output and volume control but it will not be at a level that might damage your external DAC or speakers.

No, I wouldn't countenance using the TacT's internal D:AC for the sub's and a separate external one for the main speakers ~ that would be awfully complicated. The 2.2XP offers a complete 2+2 system configuration with its own A:DC and D:AC, though it hasn't occurred to me to try using the digital outputs with anything other than the TacT S2150. I had an S2150 briefly, but the result was horrible distortion, apparently due to my room demanding more RC than the combination could handle. This problem may have been fixed with TacT's latest software, though I managed to sell the S2150 to someone fairly local and he's delighted with it. I wish it had worked okay here, because it's an amazingly fine amplifier without that distortion problem (I fed the digital output of my transport directly into it). Now I use a pair of Bryston 7B-SST's and a Lyngdorf SDA-2175 driving a pair of TacT/Lyngdorf sub's. Main speakers are a pair of PMC IB2's (not the latest i versions ~ I couldn't afford £9,450 for a pair of those!)

The TacT 2.2XP is a magnificent, technology-packed product that offers what must be almost unrivalled fine-tuneability, but it's also extremely tricky to get exactly right. Many have tried and failed and even now I'm only just about there. The Lyngdorf is probably easier in that regard.

Folks,

Thanks for the input. It has been 2 years since I posted, though, and in the meantime I got financially hurt (which delayed things) and have now chosen a different route: room treatments and a class A tube preamp. Quite a change!

I haven't yet discarded the Tact, although now I consider it as a room correction unit (on top of the room treatment) plus an outboard DAC unit. I'll revisit that down the road, when finances permit again.

Thanks anyway for the input.

Horacio

Using an external D:AC with the TacT 2.2XP going into one of its analogue inputs seems an odd choice, given that all incoming signals are processed in the digital domain for the purposes of RC. I tried it with an old (but still very good) Trichord Pulsar D:AC 1 and the character of the system didn't change at all.

As mentioned previously, the 2.2XP can sound very good indeed once you finally get it tuned exactly right, though it does seem to highlight the worst of less than great recordings as much as it highlights the best of good recordings. It isn't at all forgiving and assuredly won't make your entire collection sound wonderful, hence your relationship with it can tend to be a mixture of love and hate. But, with the right recording, the right company, a glass of your favourite tipple and a fair wind, it can sound superb. Just don't expect it to sound that way with everything and anything you may play through it.

Jools,

The option I'm contemplating is for the digital signal to be fed to the 2.2XP for it processing and from there to an outboard DAC. This assumes he outboard DAC is better than the one supplied by Tact, which I don't know to be true.

Point taken about the added resolution and hence some crappy recordings will sound crappier. I gues that's our eternal tradeoff!

Thanks!
Horacio