Looking for a DAC that has..

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the info. It's very valuable. This just opens up whole other dimension for my dac search.

One more thing, I posted the following for you in other thread "appleTV vs. logitech SB".

I have AppleTV feeding to my Electrocompaniet ecd1 dac. I recently added Oppo 95 and find that using its USB input with flash drive improves the SQ in details, tonality (except midrange) and most significantly soundstage. Obviously Oppo's 32-bit sabre dac plays a major role. One big drawback is I hate Oppo interface and ease of use is not even close to AppleTV.

Do you think adding a reclocker between AppleTV and Electrocompaniet dac would improve the sound to the level on par with oppo or close to in soundstaging, resolution and dynamics?

Thanks in advance.

What you are looking for would be a highly desirable product but I do not think it exists in your pricerange. The wyred 4 sound dac 2 has what you need but it is has a digital volume control (and is a lot cheaper). You could configure an MSB Platinum DAC the way you specified, but this will set you back about $15K.

You can also add this passive switch into the chain:

http://www.goldpt.com/sw2x.html

Kz - Adding a reclocker will make a huge difference, assuming its a good one. It may even beat your Oppo. More important than the DAC itself. The high-voltage discrete output on the Electro DAC is quite good. I used to mod this one. Unfortunately, the DAC module in it is only average, using an older 96-capable D/A chip.

Edorr is right. The lowest price for a good quality solution with everything you want is in the $7K range anyway. The Final Drive transformer buffer alone is around $2K.

You might consider the following:

AppleTV -> Synchro-Mesh -> Electro DAC -> Transformer Linestage -> amps

The Transformer linestage (TVC) will beat any active preamp because the drive from the Electro DAC is strong. There are several options for the linestage:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=89744.0

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

One of my customers purchased an AMR DP-777 which has an optionally enabled line stage with analog volume control. He prefers it over his high end tube preamp.

Dealer disclaimer.

In my estimation you should stay away from a dedicated preamp unless you have an analog source. Volume controls in the DAC have reached a level of quality where the days of the preamp will soon be numbered. We're at an inflextion point, DAC technology is one of the fastest improving in price performace. The machine you are looking for will be there soon within your price range. You will regret having bought an expensive preamp now if you do this. Don't forget additional cabling cost. Here is what I would do:

Get a good, but fully depreciated preamp with HT bypass. Run your Oppo 95 analog into the preamp.
Get a sychnro mesh on 30 day trial. See what sound quality you prefer: Oppo or Apple TV with synchro mesh and electro DAC. Keep the synchro meshif you like it.

Wait it out a little bit - when your ideal DAC has arrived at your pricepoint, sell the preamp (you'll lose a few hundred bucks tops if you buy at the right price). You can then run the synchro mesh and Oppo digitally into your new DAC.