This manufacturer called Gustard (that you suggested) has gotten 2/3rds of the way there with the integrated streamer+ R2R dac for 1650 USD (8350 under budget). But, all of a sudden, integrating a higher quality class A preamp into that unit would suddenly never fit under or equal to 10k? My budget is too weak for that to happen somehow? Tell me about that fact and reality a bit more
Okay, it’s clear to me now that you don’t know what you’re doing. First, many if not most good preamps operate in Class A, so just stop with that. Second, you won’t find any R2R DACs incorporating a good streamer, so stop with that. Last, if you combine a good and fully-balanced preamp with the Gustard, its streaming section will be a big bottleneck to performance compared to the likes of an Innuos, Lumin, Aurender, etc. that you should be looking at, so stop with that. I’ve had enough here. I’m out. Good luck with this mess guys. Or maybe someone else can finally get through to him here.