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Berkeley DAC into preamp or amp ?

I've done some searching but don't see many comparisons of the sound of the BAD Alpha DAC fed through a preamp versus into the amp directly. I'm interested in the degree/range of digital attenuation needed with amps of various gain. At what attenuation level did sonic degradation (if any) become audible?
ral
pbrennan
36 posts
 
I have a berkley dac and am using it to drive a pair of ATC 50aslt's directly.
I tried using it through my pre-amp, but felt the compromise was too pronounced.
I use 54 attenuation on the DAC, this being the recommended.
I am not a fan of digital, and before I bought it was moving back to vinyl.
The berkley dac reversed that decision. It's that good.
murataltuev
133 posts
 
Very few preamps can be better than no preamp.
I've tried many very expensive ones and always cable was better than preamp.
Except once: Tidal Preos.
So, if you want to put preamp, be ready to spend a lot of time and money.
But at the end you may get into Nirvana!
wslam
90 posts
 
I am using a preamp with my Berkley only because I am using the DartZeel pre and power which sounds best only with the 50ohm Zeel cable... otherwise, I would ditch the preamp as well, assuming I have no analog source.
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