External DAC?

Thank y’all. I have a Rogue RP-1 and a Denefrips Ares ll coming. I also just bought the First Watt J2 to heat the Cornwall IV’s up, and my Mancave in the Winter. I’m wondering if I will leave my Cary SLI – 80 tube amp and replace it with this First Watt J2 in the winter time just for the heat but maybe for the sound?

is it going to be a good idea to use a hybrid preamp like this Rogue? In addition to the Cary SLI – 80 tube amplifier? What am I gaining?

@moose89

i think the fw j2 will allow you to hear differences in sound among dacs (ares vs node etc) than the cary, which will tend to homogenize the delta and promote it’s own sonic nature

regarding dac upgrades, over the longer term, i think you will hear a bigger step in sonic improvement if you went to a denafrips pontus or schiit gungnir mb or yggrasil (or a chord qutest or gustard r26)

@jjss49 

certainly I hope the Aries to  soften the highs without losing detail. I love soundstage and I have it now when I get this hybrid rogue pre-amp it won’t be my first ever. I was using a node as basically a PreAmp that I could switch, and it was very friendly, but now the node must go into the Rogue… interesting…

Now I’m not quite convinced that adding an exterior Denafrips to my Bluesound Node has paid quantitive improvements. Also I think the NAD C1366BEE amp far exceeds the First Watt J2 with my current Cornwall iv match up. However…. The Rogue RP-1 preamp is a nice edition. I’m going to give the Ares ll some additional listening time to decide whether it’s keepable.  I put the First Watt J2 back on the market here.