Pure i-20 with or without outboard DAC

i have the i-20 in a system using a mbquart towers and a peachtree decco amp that has a well regarded built-in dac and the i-20 compares very well. i have also compared the i-20 with my musical fidelity v-dac in a emotiva/magnepan system with similar results. if you want good sound/value ratio for your money the i-20 should be fine. if you are wanting a really high end dac then there are lots of options. what is the rest of your system like and what are your expectations? i,m assuming your ipod is loaded with good quality music files?

The files on my ipod are mostly from my cd collection that I ripped to i-tunes. My plan is to get two, one for home, one for office. My office system is comprised of the musical fidelity a300 integrated and definitive technology pm700 speakers. The home system is comprised of Nola Viper iia speakers, McIntosh c15 pre, and Emotiva UPA-1 mono blocks.

with a system as good as yours a pure 1-20 is a must. i waited on a wadia for 3 years and i,m glad i did. the pure is just a great value. i have some dyi open baffles with a fatman tube ipod system in my garage and i a/b'd the fatman dock to the pure in the aux circuit and i will never listen to a ipod again in a home system w/o bypassing the ipod dac. i have a xpa-2 on magnepans in another room and love emotiva products so much i got their pre and cd too. how would you compare the sound quality between the music fi integrated and the upa-1s? i used to have a a-1 when it was british fidelity and loved it but man did it run hot. class a u know.

Then I'm glad I decided to get the i-20. At some point down the line, I may get an outboard DAC to see if there is any improvement.

Regarding my MF gear, I have the A300 as well as the A3cr power amp, and the a3cr is now on sale as it lost a close battle to UPA-1's. I think the main difference is in the highs. With the MF amps, the highs seem a little softer compared to the Emotiva. Emotiva brings just a little bit more sparkle. Also, the UPA-1s are dead silent, so that did it for me. But, I could easily live with the MF a3 powering my fronts.

my emotiva system is dead quiet too. for what it is worth i a/b'd the pure dac with my music fidelity v-dac and in another system i have with a peachtree audio decco amp/dac. the pure dac was not as good with either of these options but made the pure an even better value as it was still really good. the british magazines have really loved the pure.